Eternal Struggle: Part I The Lunar Crisis
by SpringThunder
Summary: Rinoa/Squall - Complete - To think, the final battle with Ultimecia was the pinnacle of everything that revolved around Squall and Rinoa. However, they will soon learn that it was only just the beginning of everything. *Edited - New Look*
1. Problems

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Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy 8 or its characters. They are ALL copyrighted by Squaresoft. ALL the chapters in this fic follow the same disclaimer!!!!

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Eternal Struggle

It had been only two months after the aftermath of Ultimecia, and now, another new threat has approached his small little world. He couldn't believe it. After everything he had been through, there was yet another thing coming for him. But this time, he was not going to face it alone.

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Part I – The Lunar Crisis

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Chapter 1 - Problems

"Tick tock goes the clock. The accursed SeeD have only two more months before they are, in simple words, destroyed." Dragoon was saying to his to-be wife, Sapphire, who was dressed in black/blue clothing. "In only two months, I will be the supreme ruler…and you, will be by my side, my young queen." Sapphire looked up and smiled. Her rich black hair went down to her shoulders and her necklace held two rings…………one with a lion shaped crest. 

"Upon this pathetic base on the moon, I have overseen the world for many long centuries, only to await the perfect moment to strike. The long arduous years I have spent building a huge army – the perfect army in one sense, will finally pay off. I still wonder if I should have presented myself yesterday. Sure, there was a brilliant display of fireworks at the Centra Ruins, how it was destroyed in no less than 1 hour. But still, maybe a surprise elemental attack would have been more to savor. Oh well, what's past is past, and now only the future remains."

------*****-------

"I can't believe this! We couldn't do a DAMN thing to stop him!" Zell stammered as he slammed his fist onto the cafeteria table, sending a hot dog bun flying. Quistis, Irvine and Selphie, who were there with him, were thinking the same thing. "What the hell!! We even attacked them with our GFs. Hell, not even Eden or Bahamut could do much, and they are our most powerful. Guys, this is not good. I know I shouldn't be given up hope and all, especially with what we went through with Ultimecia, but things look pretty slim" he said as he slumped against his chair. He just didn't seem any way around the situation. It seemed hopeless. Then something hit him, looking around, "Hey, where in the world is Squall!?" he asked as everyone else gave the same questionable look as Zell had.

------*****-------

__

'Normally, I would just go ahead without everyone and try to stop this myself, even though I know I have no chance whatsoever.' the lone commander said to himself. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, just thinking about what just happened the last 24 hours. '_We've tried everything, but it just didn't work. What can we do? What is this guy's weakness?' _Squall rolled over in bed many times before falling asleep…

__

"Rinoa…where are you…?"

-----*****-----

"Squall! This is Laguna speaking. If you are anywhere in this garden, please report to the control room immediately……hey watch it…" 

Ellone took over the microphone. "Squall! It's Ellone. Look, I know this might not be the time to be asking you this, but WE need your help. Can you come to the control room quickly? Thank you."

Getting up after a night's rest, he gently smoothed out his attire and slowly made his way to the control room. He wondered what Ellone could want this time, when the flashes of the Centra Ruins suddenly flashed into his mind, acknowledging to himself that was probably the reason.

After defeating Ultimecia, almost the entire garden looked upon him like a God or something – it really got on Squall's nerves. He just wanted to be a regular guy just like he used to be, but he knew those days were over. He was now the Commander of the most Elite fighters in the world – SeeD. Whenever he told them to stop, they just ignore his request and place the red carpet right in front of him. Squall sighed, he knew he had to get used to it, even though he didn't want to.

As he reached the elevator, he ran into Irvine. "Hey Squall, still no sign of Rinoa?" All Squall could do was a miserable shaking of his head, negatively, before he entered the elevator. Pressing the 3rd floor button, Squall rested against the wall as the doors shut closed, taking Irvine away from the picture. 

In the process, he just couldn't help but to think about her. It had been a month since she left. She had said she **had** to go somewhere, and said she'd be back in about a week. He remembered urging Rinoa in letting him go with her, but all she did was refuse, and with the angelic smile on her face, Squall couldn't argue any longer. But that week turned into many weeks, as she never came back. He couldn't remember how long he had spent looking for her. It seemed like everyday was another eternity he had to go through. If it were not for the problem of fuel, he'd be out there right now in the airship, Ragnarok, looking for her. But now this other problem had arrived, a problem that involved the fate of the world and in order to find Rinoa, there had to be a world.

As the elevator doors opened, he walked and pushed the doors open that were hiding the control room. He looked around. It definitely had been refurbished and improved since the last time he came here, which from his memory, was pretty long ago. Thinking Laguna could only be up, he took the small elevator to the top floor and came face to face with the man who was the husband of his mother, Raine. 

It felt odd. Squall could never call him his father. After everything he had been through, there was no way in hell he could call that man, his father. After he had left Raine to die, he just couldn't. No matter how many times Laguna tried to talk sense, Squall couldn't listen. But at the moment, that was the last thing in his mind. First was Rinoa, and second was the current situation. 

Laguna smiled. He knew of Squall and his relationship to him. Every time he looked at him, he would feel as if a dagger had pierced his heart – it hurt him so badly to see Squall so down, but he knew better then to incite more anger to Squall. 

As he as about to say something, Ellone came running over and hugged him. Squall hugged her back, smiling, knowing that at least she was safe. Even though they were not siblings by blood, he still felt she was the sister he never had, always giving him a shoulder to rely upon. He gave her a small kiss on the cheek as she smiled back giving him another sisterly hug. "Squall, its good that you're here. I presume that you know of the current predicament we're in, no – the world is in?" she asked. 

"Yeah, I know. I was there yesterday when the ruins blew up." he answered back, still not giving 100% attention to them.

"Squall, I know that look from you. Your eyes give everything away." 

  
Squall smiled inside himself. His eyes, Rinoa would also talk about his icy blue eyes – how that would be the gateway into his soul. 

"You better give us your undivided attention. This is serious. I know you're worried about Rinoa…" Ellone stammered.

At that moment, Squall couldn't take it much longer. "Keep her out of this!!" he yelled, in anger. He put his hand to his forehead, he didn't mean for it to come out that way. He looked over to Ellone, who had a shocked expression. "I'm sorry Sis. I just have a lot on my mind." 

Ellone smiled. "I understand. I feel your pain. But remember, if there is no world present, than how are you going to find her?" she asked rhetorically. "Well be that as it may, we have a serious problem on our hands, and Uncle Laguna here thinks he knows how to solve it." 

Squall looked up. _'So, another plan?'_ he calmly thought to himself. _'I wonder if it's going to be better than the one with Ultimecia.'_

Clearing his throat, "It's plain and simple, Squall. We have to go up there." he said, as he pointed up. 

"Uh………where?" his son answered back, looking a bit confused. 

"Oh, sorry." Laguna answered, scratching the back of his head. "To the moon. From the little research we were able to obtain from the Ragnorak (since it was floating out in space for 15 years, and it knows quite some history), we believe that there is an important power core hidden in their base up there. We believe that it holds the power of Dragoon's invincibility down in this world, and quite possibly, up in his world too." Laguna scratched his head again_. 'What am I thinking…'_ he said to himself. _'This sounds crazy, but Kiros and Dr. Odine said it was the only option we have. Damn them for always making Squall put himself into trouble. He already had enough problems as it is.'_

Squall folded his arms and thought about it for a couple of minutes. _'I've got to find Rinoa…but Sis needs me here. But she does have a point – no world does equal no Rinoa.'_ After those minutes expired Squall gave his SeeD salute. "Ok, I suppose I have no other choice. I'll do it." 

  
Just then, Zell came up the elevator and slapped Squall on the back. Squall really hated it when he did that, but did nothing about it. He looked curiously at Zell, but quickly hid the expression. Although he would never admit, Zell was his best friend. "And we'll go along too" Zell said as he pointed to the others down in the room below. "Squall, we've already agreed on it, knowing that we heard the whole conversation downstairs. Just tell us when and where, and we'll be there." Squall smiled. Before he didn't have that to reply upon – that friendship – he's glad that he does now. But it just doesn't feel the same without Rinoa. Her actions, words – that would make everything perfect. 

"Ok then. We'll assemble outside of the garden and in the Ragnarok, which should be done filling up on its fuel. Then, we'll use that and launch it to the moon, to the outskirts of the empire Dragoon has built up there." Squall said. With that, Zell left to tell the others.

As Squall was about to leave, a thought came up. "Hey, Sis………how come we never saw this empire when we up to the Lunar Base?" 

Ellone thought for a minute. "Oh yea, now I remember. I heard someone saying that Dragoon had some technology making his base invisible or something. I'm not really quite sure." she answered back. 

Squall nodded. "Ok, thanks." Squall gave his Sis another huge before leaving. He was halfway down the elevator when Ellone shouted, "Dr. Odine will give you the coordinates of where you are to land on the moon. Just punch them in and the computer will do everything else for you!" 

__

"Odine, what a strange guy…" was the phrase in back of Squall's mind.

-----*****-----

A week had passed for preparations to travel to the moon. Food, water, clothing all had to be stocked. Odine had given Squall 6 Lunar Rings, which would allow them to breathe at the moon regularly. During that week, Squall kept on looking for Rinoa, especially at Edea's fields, but there was still no sign. He couldn't believe it. He knew that she just couldn't disappear of the face of the world just like that. She had to be somewhere. But every time Squall would search for her, each time it would seem more and more futile. 

Eventually, the day before the moon launch approached, and Squall sat there with Zell and Quistis, having his last meal on Earth for the time being. "C'mon Squall, if you don't eat, just consider yourself dead on the moon, because you won't have any energy left." Quistis urged. All the meanwhile, Zell was stuffing himself with the hot dogs he rarely gets the chance to eat. 

"Sorry, Instructor. I'm just not in the mood." And with that, Squall left the cafeteria of the Lunar Launch pad and headed for his room.

He lay in bed for what seemed like an eternity. He couldn't remember when he fell asleep, but so many thoughts were racing through his mind_. "Rinoa, why haven't you come back yet?" _was the question that would always pop up every couple of minutes or so. _"I miss you…"_ was the last thing he remembered.

-------*******---------

"Pathetic SeeDs! Don't you think I know you're going to come up here!" Dragoon said with and evil laugh. "Actually, I want you to come up here. Then you can see your precious world blow up from the inside out. How foolish………but daring I have to say. Wouldn't you say………Sapphire?" He turned around and saw her standing there, dusting Dragoon's favorite chair. 

"Of course." She said with a smile. As she was bending up, her necklace got stuck on her dress. Her efforts to unhook it were all in vain and finally Dragoon practically ripped it off. 

"I'll get you a new dress, my love. And we should throw this necklace away…it looks patheti…." 

"NO!" Sapphire bursted out. In deep red embarrassment, "I mean, no. That's the only thing I have that reminds me of my mother…" she added. Shrugging, Dragoon tossed it to her and left to check on his army. Sapphire clutched the necklace that held the two rings, closely to her chest… 'What is so special about these rings?' she asked to herself, closely examining the lion crested jewelry. 

__

"I miss you…"

Sapphire quickly turned around. She looked to the left and right. "Who's there?" she managed to whisper. "And why do you sound so familiar…" Just then, visions of Edea's Fields popped up. An endless amount of beautiful flowers, going on forever to the horizon. At the end, came the figure of her past. The blond haired young man she had known. A voice deep within Sapphire's heart tried to scream, 'Squall…,' but was soon drowned out. As the figure was about to turn around, the vision disappeared. The tiara on Sapphire's head began to glow a ruby red and she stood motionless for a minute. She then regained consciousness, looked around and shrugged, "What am I doing here?" she asked to nobody in particular. She left the room, only to retire to her chambers.


	2. Journey to Space

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Chapter 2 – Journey to Space

"RINOA!" he screamed as he awoke from his slumber. Drowned in cold sweat, Squall slowly regained vision of his surroundings and took a couple of deep inhales. He wiped his face dry with the blanket and then sat on the edge of the bed. He rested his head in his hands and just sat there. "So, you're up there…" He managed to whisper to himself. "Then I guess I have no choice. Remember that I'm your knight. I'll be there for you………always."

----*****-----

"OH YEAAAHHH!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!" Zell exclaimed as he was swatting flies. 

"Will you calm down." Selphie said as he smacked him on the back. "You're getting me all nervous."

Zell finally gave it up and sat down in the nearby chair, although he still seemed pretty restless. "Sorry Selphie. I just have this feeling we're going to kick some major butt, like we did against Ultimecia." 

Just then, Irvine came into the small room where the group agreed to gather before launch. As expected, Irvine came in and sat down next to Selphie, trying to get her relaxed. "Calm down, Sephie. I've been up there before with Squall and Rinoa, its no big deal – but beautiful scenery." Irvine said nothing for a second_. 'Hey…beautiful scenery and a beautiful girl…after the battle, I have to make my move'_ he silently thought to himself, snickering to Selphie, who wanted to know what was so funny. 

Quistis was the next to walk in. She folded her arms and looked around. "Feels like old times, huh? Just missing one thing though" she sadly mentioned to no one in particular. But everyone knew what she was talking about. 

Zell anxiously looked around. "Hey, c'mon. Don't lose hope. I know Rinoa has to show up some place, sooner or later. It's just a matter of time." It was just too bad that Zell couldn't fully believe his own words, or else it would have been a motivating sentence. Just as Zell was about to say something again, Squall walked in.

Everyone looked up to him. By now, they knew him all too well, and did not even mention Rinoa. The last time Zell said anything, he was almost decked to the floor from a punch from Squall. "Hey Squall…how come you look all sweaty?" Selphie asked innocently. Everyone else nodded, also wanting to know the answer. With just a wave of his hand, Squall gave the sign that it was no big deal.

  
"Ok, listen up everybody. We all have already seen first hand what this Dragoon guy could do. But hey, as she used to say, 'don't lose hope.'" Squall folded his arms, thinking of what Rinoa would say next at a time like this. It was obvious to the others that all he had in his mind was Rinoa. "Dr. Odine has already given me all the instructions we need, so we'll be safe up until the part where we have to infiltrate the base. We've done it against Ultimecia, I know we can do it again. And, oh yea, before I forget, everyone put these rings on – it will allow us to breathe normally on the moon, so we won't have to wear the heavy space suits, but that doesn't mean we'll have more gravity, so don't get carried away." Squall mentioned as he eyed Zell particularly on the last part. Again, Squall looked into the distance. They could tell by his eyes. He shook his head, coming back to reality, "Ok, more will be revealed when we have boarded onto the Ragnarok." He added.

Irvine nodded. "Great speech. That one actually moved me." he said as he left, holding Selphie's hand, who still looked quite nervous. Quistis afterwards, put a hand on Squall's shoulder, nodded as well, then left for the Ragnorak. 

Zell looked around, seeing that he was the last person left, got up. He stood right in front of Squall and looked into his eyes. "We'll get her back" he finally managed to say, and left. Squall stared at the opposite wall, then looked up. 

Unknowingly, he detached his blue gunblade from the sheath and stared directly into it. _'I'm coming. Just hold on.'_ He didn't want to tell anyone about what he had saw, partially because he wanted them to concentrate on the mission, and partially because he did not want the others to have to other things to worry about. 

Just as he was about to leave for the ship, Ellone walked in, and her eyes looked a bit puffy, telling Squall she had been crying for some time. Squall smiled as he walked up to her. To his surprise, she quickly hugged him. "Please come back alive, Squall. I lost you once before, I don't want to lose you guys again." she sobbed out.

Squall smiled as he returned the hug, running his had through her hair, trying to comfort her. "Relax Sis. Zell, Quistis, Irvine, Selphie, and I are all coming back. Nothing to worry about." he reassured as he gave one of his rare, genuine smiles to her. And with that, Squall released from her embrace and walked away.

The five of them were at the door of the Ragnarok – the shining, ruby colored airship that held so many secrets – many of them still undiscovered. They entered the airship and soon found themselves in the control room, where they had been in countless number of times during the battles with Ultimecia and Sorceress Adel. Selphie and Irvine sat done at the ship's controls. Selphie was still nervous about the whole moon thing, but had calmed down a bit. The others strapped themselves into the nearby passenger seats. "Ok Irvine, punch in these coordinates and information Dr. Odine gave, and everything else, the ship will take care of." Squall said as he handed him a sheet of paper. 

As Irvine was busy punching in information, Squall kept thinking about the dream last night, and if it was true. After five minutes, he came back to reality. "Oh yeah, before I forget, I have two things to say. First of all, don't forget to junction your Guardian Forces and magic. We don't know if we'll get a chance up there. Secondly, once up there, we'll break into two groups. I haven't thought of the break up yet, but the battle plan is to sneak in from the main entrance and the back." As everyone nodded, Squall shut his mouth and quickly fell into his own thoughts. Zell was shaking his leg furiously while Quistis was attending remodeling to her whip.

-----*****-----

"Are ve ready for vhe launch?" Dr. Odine asked the crew. 

"Just a few more tweaks, and we'll be ready. Give us five minutes." replied one of the crewmembers. 

Laguna, Ellone and Kiros came in. "Dr. Odine, are you **positive** that they'll be safe enough? I mean, they are going to be taking on the whole Lunar Army up there." Ellone asked, obviously very worried. 

"Ellone, the army iz no problemz. I've personally updated allz the weaponz they carry, so they are stronger than uzual. Plus, the GF's zhould be a great help." The scientist added. "However, I've be more vorried about Dragoon. His powerz are incomparable, even to Ultimecia'z."

Ellone bit her lip. "Don't worry, Elly." Laguna said reassuringly with a smile. "Squall is a good kid, and if I know my son, he'll come through for us." Kiros then kicked him in the leg. "Ouch…what'd you do that for? Now I have this major cramp." he added as he grabbed his leg. 

"You don't even know the slightest thing about Squall. That's what." Kiros answered. 

Laguna scratched the back of his head. "Uh yea, I'll change that when he gets back."

Ellone couldn't help but to stifle the laugh. It always amused her of her uncle's simplicity in everything, but for some reason; she still couldn't shake out this feeling that something would go terribly wrong.

The head maintenance member gave the thumbs up that all was ready. The countdown had started… 

"20……19…………5……4……3……2……1……BLAST OFF!"

The once motionless airship all of a sudden started shaking as its engines kicked into gear. A huge flame ignited out of the rear as the airship, and within moments, was into the air, passed the Earth's atmosphere, and entered outer space.


	3. Lost Hope

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Chapter 3 – Lost Hope

No one said anything, or could say anything for that matter. Getting through the Earth's atmosphere seemed impossible to everyone, but finally, the Ragnarok managed to get through. After that, the ship slowed down its' pace a bit, conserving fuel for later. Selphie set the controls to autopilot, as she finally let out a huge sigh of relief. To Squall, she still looked nervous, but not as badly as she did before. 

"Damn, that was rough." Zell commented as he accidentally unbuckled his seatbelt, thinking the ride was over. "Hey, what the………how do I get back down?" he asked, trying furiously to swim, but only could achieve a miserable little doggy paddle. 

"Relax Zell." Quistis said as he rolled her eyes. "You're not dying. Here, let me give you a hand." Unbuckling herself, she quickly flew over to Zell and almost threw him to his seat, where he quickly buckled himself back down. Everyone stared at Quistis with a shock. She smiled, "Hey, c'mon. I'm not the top instructor at Balamb Garden for nothing. They prepare you for this kind of stuff. You know what I mean by that, right Squall?" she asked him, actually to see if he was in this world or another. 

It took awhile for Squall to realize she was asking him that question. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure, I know." he finally replied. 

After that, nobody really said anything, for the reason there was nothing to talk about. Zell was still moving around in his seat, and by his actions, his comrades could tell he was very anxious to head into battle. Selphie was looking through the window of the airship, with Irvine right behind her, both of them marveling at the beauties of space. Quistis looked at Squall with a worried look, but knew even if she said anything, it wouldn't help, so just sat there and read an old issue of the Timber Maniacs magazine. 

__

'Staring in outer space can really help things' Squall silently thought to himself. _'I've got too many things to look out for. Rinoa, my friends, the world………this could be so much easier if I was alone.'_ Squall noticed the ship was not traveling anymore. 

Selphie quickly got up. "Hmm…must be a problem with the engine or something. I better go and fix it." she said excitedly with Irvine following with a smile. 

------******--------

"My lordship………" Raven began. "It seems that the SeeD space shuttle has stalled in the middle of space, thanks to a couple of spies we had sent out earlier. What shall we do with it?" 

Dragoon thought for a moment. "Damn myself, I should not even be thinking about this situation. I'm not going to give any mercy, on the off chance that they'll actually accomplish something. Take the Plasma Cannon and shoot them to pieces." he ordered as Raven saluted and took leave. "Sapphire, I always knew that Raven would be my top officer. Don't you agree with me, from what you've seen so far?" 

Sapphire unemotionally, smiled. "Of course, my lord. But still, nothing compared to you." she answered back, again, without any emotion. 

All Dragoon could do is smile. _'It's a pity I can't keep her…'_ he began to himself. _'…she would make a lovely queen. But I need those sorceress powers she has in order for me to complete my plan. Oh well, I'll have my fun now, while I still can. Too bad I can't do it now, no time at all, with the invasion in less than two months away…maybe next week.'_ He devilishly smiled, making it obvious what his true intentions were. 

"Is the Plasma Cannon ready for firing?" Raven asked slowly. 

"Yes, sir." was the reply. 

"Then what the hell are you waiting for!!!" Raven shouted back. "FIRE!!" 

The henchmen locked onto the coordinates that the Ragnarok was located at, and all that had to be done was the push of one simple button. The crew leader let Raven have the honors. Smiling as his lordship, Dragoon would, he took one finger and lightly gave it a push. The cannon began glowing, gathering energy at the tip of its opening. Everything fell silent for that moment, followed by a huge explosion like sound, and the huge blast was off…

-----*****------

"La la la la la…" She sang as she continued to work on the busted engine. "You know Irvine………" Selphie began. "………too bad these rings don't work out in space. This space suit is super hot. I'm sweating like a pig." 

It was obvious to Irvine that she was still scared. "Haha…Sefie, that's why they are called **Lunar** Rings, and not space rings. They are intended to work when we are in the moon's atmosphere" he replied, hoping to make an impression on her. 

"DUH! I'm not stupid, Irviiiiine" she replied back with a laugh. 

Irvine frowned, _'Ah, yet another chance gone awry'_ he thought to himself. _'Next time I'll for sure get her…'_ They then resumed working on the engine, while making small talk to each other, completely unaware of what was yet to occur.

Zell unbuckled his seatbelt and gave the zero gravity thing another try. With caution, he slowly traveled around the cockpit area. "Hell yea! I think I'm starting to get the hang of this thing guys." he added as he tried punching and kicking in air, only to send himself hitting the wall behind him. "Oww………" Quistis gave a small chuckle at the sight of Zell but was soon distracted by the beeping sound that was going on. 

Squall quickly moved to the controls and pushed a couple of buttons to see what it was all about. Zell came over, and in that second, knew what was happening. "DAMNNNN!!! We have to get out of here are we're going to be fried alive!" 

"It's too late, Zell…we're already fried." Squall said sadly as the beam headed for the airship, only about a hundred yards apart. In that instant, everything went quiet. The singing of Selphie was not heard. Irvine's bright smile was no where to be seen. Zell's cursing was no where to be found. Quistis's yell went dead. 

All that was heard was one short sentence before the airship disappeared, "I'm sorry Rinoa, I guess I couldn't keep my promise after all."


	4. New Found Hope

****

Chapter 4 – New Found Hope

"DIRECT HIT!"

A smile came across Raven's face. "That was almost too simple." he said as he left for Dragoon's chambers. 

The henchmen went wild. "That's all the Earth has to offer? A couple of pathetic teenagers who did jack shit? Damn, I'm surprised they were able to beat Ultimecia. Then again, if it wasn't for us, Ultimecia would still be terrorizing their world." Booze and food was followed.

"Give me your report Raven!" Dragoon commanded. 

"My Lordship, our attempt to completely destroy the SeeD was a success. The beam was a direct hit. Our spies have found no trace of the airship, leaving us to believe our predictions. The beam collided with the airship and burned it to ashes. All we were able to find was a few measly tools the Earthlings use to fix things." A smile came across Raven's face, _'Maybe he'll finally see me as what I am, the best of the best.'_

Dragoon studied Raven's facial expression during the whole report. It took ten minutes, but Dragoon finally let out a huge laugh, followed by laughing throughout the whole base. "Good work! You truly are the best Raven. At this time, I have no choice but to promote you to head of the army, after me. You are dismissed." Raven smiled devilishly as he left for his own quarters.

He slowly walked into Sapphire's chambers, who was sleeping at the time. Right when Dragoon leaned down for a kiss, Sapphire woke up, "NNNOOOOOO!" Dragoon flinched back for the moment, and curiously wondered what she was dreaming. After Sapphire regained complete consciousness, she then noticed Dragoon and flushed deep red. "I'm sorry, my lord. I was having a dream that you were being beaten up by the SeeDs" she lied quickly. 

Studying her for awhile, he finally accepted the lie, "There is no need to worry my love. We just burned those SeeDs to crisp." Dragoon leaned down to try another kiss, but Sapphire turned her face quickly, giving the excuse that she was in a mess, and needed to get cleaned up before she could fully enjoy what Dragoon had to offer. With a smile, Dragoon left.

Sapphire looked out through her window. The dream she just had was not of Dragoon, but of the blond haired figure that have been haunting her dreams, if you could say that. The fields of endless flowers had once again shown up, and she was running towards him. It seemed like an endless amount of miles she had to go, but when she finally reached him, he had disappeared, only to say, "I'm sorry Rinoa, I guess I couldn't keep my promise after all." _'Who is Rinoa?'_ Sapphire quietly thought to herself. "Is that……...me?" Just then, the tiara on her head once again began to glow a ruby red and in a few moments, she lost all memory of the dream. She slowly got up and went into her bathroom to refresh herself up.

-----*****------

"It's been four weeks, Elly………" Laguna began to say sadly, "………and still no sign. There's gotta be something we could do. I know it doesn't seem possible, but I just know Squall's alive. Dr. Odine could not have searched everywhere………he just couldn't…..." He was cut off. 

"I know they are alive. Squall, Zell, all of them, I just know it!!! I just don't know why my powers aren't working!! Then I could know what actually happened." Ellone shouted, all the while tears flowed down her cheeks, soaking her dress that she had on. 

Laguna believed in her – he had to be alive, Squall was his son after all, but sadly enough, his conscious just kept telling him that the evidence pointed the other way. 

Kiros then walked in. "I know that this may not be the time for it but, Dr. Odine said we have less than a month to do something about Dragoon. We are planning to send up all the Ragnaroks we have available, loaded with bombs, and hopefully we can blow up the place. However, if we connect, we will blow up the entire moon, and we still don't know what type of effects it may have on Earth, but Dr. Odine claimed he has already prepared for that, or so he says." Kiros looked upon Laguna and Ellone as he finished his report. He left the room, leaving the two alone in their sadness.

-----*****-----

He slowly trudged alone, leaving his footsteps in the dirt behind him. His eyes were completely lost, which gazed into the horizon, hoping for some kind of sign. Food and water were a scarcity, which he had been living off and surprisingly, still alive. He guessed it had been close to over a month since then, and still, everything that happened that moment was a blur…no matter how many times he rethought it, it still never seemed to make any sense… 

__

'The beam was heading right toward us…' he said in his mind. _'Then suddenly it had disappeared, or as we soon had figured, we had disappeared from that location. We found out that the Ragnarok had indeed, somehow teleported from the predicament to another point in space. No one believed what had happened, however, everyone was still there. Zell, Quistis, and even Irvine and Selphie were alive. I was glad. But that relief didn't last long. The Ragnarok was falling fast to the moon, and as Zell soon saw, we were out of gas. My only guess was that the teleport ability must have used up all of the Ragnarok's fuel. As I turned toward Quistis, she had this weird look on her face, then what she did next is still a complete mystery to me. And then next thing I knew, I was laying on the surface of the moon, with a month's worth of food and water next to me. My only guess was that she must have casted me with a sleep spell before she tossed me over, otherwise, I would have resisted.' _

He just couldn't walk much longer. The last of the food and water were gone from his last meal. There appeared to be no sign of the Ragnarok anywhere on the moon, or from where he had traveled. The area seemed like a never-ending cold desert. He took a looked towards his hand. If Dr. Odine hadn't given him this Lunar Ring, he would have been a goner for sure. 

"Rinoa………please give me strength……just a little……more……and I promise……I'll come for you……" He then collapsed to the ground.

-----*****-----

The fields of flowers once again invaded her mind. Sapphire looked around, only to see the beautiful colors of the rainbow spread out on the ground. However, she was looking for something…or someone. She kept on running till she stopped. The blond haired boy was on the ground. She smiled, and walked up to him. He was lying on the ground, his face turned the other way so she couldn't see. She bent down and nudged him, but the figure did not move. She nudged him again, and still received the same result. She couldn't take it anymore, and a tear fell from her lovely face and landed onto the figure on the ground…

Sapphire woke up, sweating. The tiara on her forehead began to glow once again. After that minute, she then fell back to sleep.

-----*****-----

  
Squall woke up with a sudden jolt. It took him awhile to realize what just happened. He smiled and got up. He had a promise to keep, and he was not about to break it.

Squall took a look at the Earth. It was still there. His guess was that he still had some time left before Dragoon was going to make his move. He estimated about less than two weeks or so. But that was the last thing on his mind. He slowly walked…and just kept on walking. He looked ahead of him. He felt as if he couldn't walk any further, but there seemed to be a hill ahead of him. Slowly, he tramped up the steep hill, which felt like scaling a mountain to him, but finally reached the top. Actually he was right, it was the top of a mountain. He looked around, as far as his eyes would let him. To no surprise, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. "DAMN!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as he slumped to the ground and remained sitting there for some time. Looking around, he grabbed a rock. After staring at it for some time, Squall just threw it as far as he could.

  
What happened next was totally the last thing Squall would have ever expected to happen. As if it hit a wall, the rock bounced back and flew over Squall's head. He instantly got up. He went to the edge of the cliff and put his hand forward. But it stopped, resting on some kind of invisible wall. He moved his hands to the side and kept on going, till he felt an oddly soft portion of the wall. Slowly pushing it, the wall started to change form. The area in front of him slowly changed into a small cave. Knowing that he had no other option, Squall carefully ventured into it, having his gunblade in his hand. The cave didn't last very long, and just as soon as he had entered the cave, he sighted an exit. He walked up to it. What was in front of him was surely amazing. A huge technological city right in the middle of the moon. "No wonder no one has ever seen it before, Ellone was right. An invisible blanket covered it." Squall looked around. He noticed he was definitely at a high place of the city, knowing that he could see much of it. Carefully scanning the area with his binoculars, Squall spotted the Ragnarok at the far end of the city, which also housed a huge castle – Dragoon's castle. "Phase one completed." Squall quietly said. "If the Ragnarok is there, then most likely the others are too, including Rinoa."


	5. The Truth

****

Chapter 5 – The Truth

"This sucks!" Zell yelled as once again he tried to free himself from the chains. 

"That's just going to get you all tired out." Irvine said as he just rested there. "You've been doing that every day for the past week. Relax, the guards are going to give us another walk around in the pathetic little thing which they call a park. Then you can jump all the much you want." 

Zell saw the flaws of his efforts and stopped. "Man, what the hell! I don't believe it. I just can't be chained up here. We've been held prisoner for freakin' five weeks – I've kept track – for all we know, the Earth is gone." 

"Sherlock………" Selphie began, "………remember, Dragoon wanted us to witness the destruction of the Earth, so relax. As hopeless as it seems, we've still have some kind of chance. Sure, there's probably like a million monsters we gotta get through to get to the power core, but hey, there's always a way." 

Quistis smiled. "Right, we can never give up hope. Remember, Squall's out there." She was counting on him. He was their last hope. _'He was the closest to the airship's door, so I had to push him out.'_ she rethought in her mind.

"I know that!" Zell said arrogantly. He paused, "But shit, I still can't believe Rinoa is here – and what's worse, she's that Dragoon's to-be queen. I mean, what the hell happened to her and Squall? She had to have lost her mind." Everyone else wondered the same question. 

Rinoa seemed too kindhearted to just have switched sides all of a sudden. "Something must have happened to her when she went away all those months ago." Quistis said. "She could have been brainwashed. All I know is that Rinoa is our friend. She definitely would not have done something like this, no matter how much Squall was a jerk to her, if he was at all." the instructor added with a little chuckle, just to lighten things up. 

  
Just then, the doors of the prison cell opened up, and Dragoon, followed by Sapphire walked in. Dragoon paced back and forth in front of the four SeeD members. "You guys are so pathetic! Is this the best your world has to offer? Are you supposed to be Earth's last hope – their ray of sunshine? Well, if you are, that ray has been put out, permanently." The evil king gave his signature devil's laugh before he continued. "Anyway, as you probably know, there is only about a week and a half before my units are fully powered. In other words, you world is dead, gone, going to be blown apart – whatever you want to think." Sapphire just stood there, not showing any emotions whatsoever, but just smiling as devilishly as Dragoon had done a few minutes ago. "My to-be queen………" Dragoon lied. "………What do you think we should do with them? Torture them or kill them right now?" 

She looked at the hostages. One by one, she eyed them, staring at each one longer than the previous. "My lord. Wouldn't it be fun to see them squirm, knowing that they can't do anything to save their planet? I think it would be pretty funny, don't you?" she replied. 

"Excellent idea! My love." Dragoon responded. He looked at her for a few more minutes. _'In one week, I'll have her powers. Then, ah yes, she'll have to be disposed of and then, I would be able to blow up planets with the snap of my fingers.'_ he smiled as that thought ran through his head and left the cell.

Sapphire, however, stayed there, and watched the four SeeD's try to break free. "It's no use…" she began. "Those chains are made of the toughest alloy this side of the universe. You'll never become free."

He couldn't take it anymore. He had to say something. "WHATTHE HELL ARE YOU DOING RINOA!" Zell screamed, trying to get some sense into her. Sapphire looked at him oddly, and gave an expression that she did not know where he was getting at. 

"Rinoa, don't you remember us?" Irvine started, as he attempted to get a hold of their once true friend. "Remember, back a few months, the battle with Ultimecia? We were at your side. C'mon, you must remember something? If not us, then at least him………Squall Leonhart?"

Her eyes widened and her mouth was left open. "That………that name………it sounds familiar" the raven-haired girl managed to say. Just then, random pictures of her past came into her mind. Dances, parties, late up nights…all the small things that friends help make fun: Zell helping her get Squall's ring; Quistis showing her how to fight; Selphie chatting with her about crushes; Irvine giving her advice to get Squall's attention. Then everything went black and the image of space appeared in front of her eyes. She remembered, being stranded in space – with almost no oxygen left. She'd had given up hope of ever seeing anybody ever again. And then, he came to her rescue; rescued her from isolated space. He came and grabbed her and she knew she was not alone anymore. She had somebody she could count upon; someone she could rest upon, and have no more worries; someone who would risk their life, just as he did then, to come to her rescue………someone like him………her knight in shining armor.

To Zell, Rinoa looked as if she had been hypnotized or something. As he was about to say something, Rinoa started to scream, loudly. She clutched her head and fell to the floor instantly. The ruby tiara on her head was glowing brighter than ever, as it tried to control her mind or something. Irvine and Zell tried to unchain themselves, but it was a no go. All four of the prisoners had to cover up their ears, or they would have gone deaf. Rinoa's scream was, indeed, a deafening sound. As she struggled to regain control, the tiara on her head suddenly stopped glowing and shattered to pieces, cutting Rinoa's skin in several different places on her face, arms and legs. She fell to the floor unconscious.

Moments later, Dragoon came walking in, smiling, followed by Raven. "OH well. It was fun while it lasted. But to bad I didn't get to enjoy myself" he said as he looked up from Rinoa to the prisoners. "Well, it was about time for her to die anyway. All I need now is her powers extracted from her and I'll have no more business. Take her away!" he commanded as two guards carried her out of the cell. Dragoon then looked up to Zell and the others, simply smiled, and left. 

Raven, on the other hand, stayed a little longer. "You know, I love to see you guys suffer." He walked up to Zell and punched him right in the gut. He did the same to Irvine. Raven then presented himself in front of Selphie and Quistis. "If it wasn't for Dragoon, I'm positive I could show both of you a thing or to." With that, he left, laughing away at this, so-called joke. 

He couldn't take it anymore. It all made sense now. It wasn't Rinoa's fault at all. "You FUCKING piece of SHIT! You just wait till I get out of here!!!" Zell yelled after him as he desperately tried to free himself, but all ending in vain.

"So that's why Rinoa was here. I knew there had to be an alternative motive." Quistis thought out loud. "I guess the sorceress's magic would give him power beyond imaginat…"

"IS THAT ALL YOU CAN SAY! After all that!" Zell yelled, not letting Quistis finish her sentence. "SHE'S GOING TO…"

"Will you shut up Zell! I know that. Why do you think I've been quiet all this time? I'm trying to think of a way out of…"

Zell was about to add something else, but Selphie cut him off. "You two, stop fighting. Right now is not the time. We have to stay calm and think. That's all!" she said in tears, in fear that this time, they have no hope at all.

Irvine looked at the others. Things were getting out of hand, and couldn't think of anything to do. _'Squall, if your alive, right now is the time to be the hero again.'_

-----*****-----

As he surveyed the area, one thing was for certain. He would not be able to walk into the colony without attracting some attention. From what he had seen, there was not one single human in the colony, just various different breeds of monsters. "Well, I don't have much time left. I guess it's now or never." Squall slid down the side of the mountain, fully refreshed after a day's rest. He reached the entrance to the colony and stopped. He looked and saw the castle at the far end – at least a couple of miles away, if not more. He took a deep breath, took his gunblade in his right hand and a readied a Firaga magic in the other. He bent his knees and ran…just ran straight, slicing anybody or anything in his way and burning down farther away monsters with his magic.


	6. Infiltration

****

Chapter 6 – Infiltration

"I am so, so sorry, my love, but this is a must." Dragoon began explaining to an unconscious Rinoa. He needed her alive in order to extract her powers, so he had her placed in a clear protective cell, where oxygen was present. "In order for me to become the most powerful being, I need your powers, so I'm very sorry, my love." he finished, in a passionate voice. As he was about to prepare for the transfer of powers, something very unexpected happened.

Alarms went off all over the castle. Monsters were running everywhere. "What the hell is happening?" one asked. "I have no clue." another replied.

The evil kind immediately got up, in a blind rage of fury. "SOLVE THAT FUCKING CRISIS NOW!" His voice could be heard throughout the whole ten-story castle. 

-----*****-----

Zell awoke abruptly. "Now what? Have they finally decided to kill us or something?" he said jokingly, really not wanting that to happen. He looked around and noticed the alarms off. "Really, what's happening?"

"I'm really not sure," Irvine started. "Seems like some disturbance in the colony." He paused for a second, thinking what it could be. He then smiled, and as he was about to speak, both Selphie and Quistis answered for him.

"Squall!" they both cheered. 

"Finally…" Zell said. "It's about time. Wonder what he was waiting for. Talk about close. There are only a few days left before total annihilation. But right now, if there is one thing I want to do before anything else, that's to get even with that Raven character for sure!!!"

-----*****-----

He looked behind him. He had covered about a mile, and already he guessed he had been through 50 to 60 monsters, and their carcasses lying on the floor. His gunblade was covered with all the colors of the rainbow, except red. It was then when he felt his first drop of sweat hit the floor. "One mile down, and only…." It looked like there was a small army of a hundred coming from the castle. _'There is no way I'm going to be able to take them all on at once'_ he said to himself. Then it hit him. "IFRIT! I summon thee!" 

  
The ground started to break apart. The fires of hell were becoming more and more apparent. Then it came: the red inferno beast from the underworld. His long golden horns were practically the only thing not red or brown. He breathed fire; was covered in fire. Everything then happened so quickly. One minute the small army of monsters was present, the next thing, they were burned to crisp. Ifrit smiled, knowing his job done, and then left for the underworld once more.

Squall breathed a sigh of relief as he was happy to see they were no match for Ifrit. "This seems a little too easy. I wonder when Dragoon is going to get serious?" Squall once again continued his solo assault to the castle.

-----*****-----

"The first line has been breeched." The 1st major reported. "What shall we do now?" he asked Raven.

Raven smiled. "Chill out. Do you think that was our best? More like our worst. Anyway, Dragoon has given the go ahead sign to exterminate the prisoners. And oh yea, let out Weapon X while your at it. Dragoon wants NO interference whatsoever." Raven commanded as he left for the prison cell.

The 1st major shivered at the sound of Weapon X. He looked around to his crew, who had the same terrified look on their face. Releasing him would be easy, but getting him under control was the hard part. "Well, you heard the man, release the monster!"

-----*****-----

The rusted old prison doors once again opened, and again, walked in Raven with this pathetic smile on his face – the smile that detested Zell so much to the point of deep rage. "Well, well, well, what do we have here. Four little SeeD members hanging on the wall. You take one down, kill him immediately and only three left to savor their agony. Oh well. As Lord Dragoon would say, 'it was fun while it lasted.'" Raven said as he sneered at the prisoners.

"Just get the damn thing over with." Irvine managed to say, already giving up all hope of survival. Both Quistis and Selphie also had the same look as Irvine. 

"Umm…I don't like that attitude. I'll save you for last, so you could watch your friends suffer." he replied back as he walked up to Zell. "I think I'll take you out first." And with that, Raven drew his sword and hoisted it above his head. He pointed it toward Zell's heart. "Farewell…" he whispered as he lunged toward Zell.

"I don't think so." was the only thing heard before Raven was belted towards the floor and Zell on top of him. "It took four weeks to get this out of my shoe, but I did it." he bragged brightly as he showed everybody the small hairpin. Zell took a small victory dance before he took Raven's sword and freed his friends. "Ok, you guys go for the power core, and I'll make sure we don't see this guy again." he commanded as he pointed to Raven.

"Ok!" the three SeeDs said as they stretched a little before sneaking out of the cell, weapons in hand.

"Now for payback." Zell said as he cracked his knuckles.

"Your going to regret those three words, you little bastard." the fallen general said as he smeared off the small trace of blue blood of his face. 

-----*****-----

His breathing could be seen at a very high pace. He was definitely tired, but he wasn't about to give up. He looked back once again, and all he could see was laying carcasses once again, a sight that made him very happy. He then turned his attention towards the castle. There was only about a mile to cover before he reached there, and there were no signs of enemies. He decided to jog the rest of the way, in order to conserve some energy. 

It wasn't till he was about three hundred or so feet from the castle when he heard a huge roar. At first, Squall had thought it was another small army, but then there would have been many roars. He looked left and right, but didn't find his answer till he looked up. That's when four huge feet sent him flying back into the dust. Squall choked and coughed, but still managed to get up. After casting a Cura spell, he looked at the massive monster that was blocking his way. At least 25-30 feet tall, it resembled somewhat of a Sphinx with a Griffin's body and a lion's tail to finish it off. "Ok, so now Dragoon decides to pull off some stunts – right when I'm next to his castle. Ok, fine by me." he muttered to himself.

The battle started off with Squall using a thundaga spell, thinking he could paralyze the creature. Nevertheless, the creature absorbed the magic and snickered at him. With one hit from his paw, Squall was sent flying into a small stone structure, which immediately exploded to rubble. The fallen SeeD slowly got up and again, casted a Curaga spell to keep him afloat. "Ok, time to get serious. IFRIT! I summon thee!"

Once again, the fire demon from hell sprang up from the Moon's surface and stared his opponent straight into the face. "Finally, a worthy adversary." With that, Ifrit sprung forth towards the enemy with his fist ready for an attack. However, the sphinx-griffin hybrid caught the mighty demon off-guard with a quick Blizzaga magic, sending Ifrit flying in the other direction. He crashed into a nearby mountain, almost draining him of his life. It took awhile, but Ifrit finally managed to get up, all ending with a slight smirk. "Fool, now face the wrath of IFRIT!" he yelled as he raised a huge crater from the ground, completely lit up with the fires of hell. He literally kicked it with a speed that seemed only comparable to sound, towards the hybrid creature. Ifrit smiled as he thought this would surely finish off the job, and to some extent it did, sending his enemy straight into the ground, covered in flames. "DONE!" Ifrit yelled in pride as he let his guard down, which was the mistake. The creature arose from the once thought ashes and returned the favor by sending an ice spear right into Ifrit's chest. The fire demon landed on his knees, and with one final breath, fell to the ground and slowly disintegrated into tiny specs of light, which returned to the underworld.

Squall watched in shock, as one of his four GF's was totally overpowered by the creature. "Damn…"


	7. Too Much, Too Soon

****

Chapter 7 – Too Much, Too Soon

The three of them were wandering aimlessly for about an hour, just killing any monster that stood in their path. "Hey guys, hold on a minute." Irvine finally said. "Does anyone here know where in the world this power core might be?" he asked while he reloaded his shotgun with AP ammo.

"Good question." Quistis pointed out.

"Why don't we just blow up the whole place to smithereens!" Selphie exclaimed in joy and jumped up and down, just thinking about the idea.

"I agree with Selphie." Irvine immediately said, hoping to gain some ground with her.

"We can't, mostly because we don't have those type of explosives." Quistis reminded them.

The three of them stood there, trying to think of which way to go, when Selphie pointed out a map. "Heeeey! The power core is on the 9th floor." she said as she rushed upstairs. Irvine and Quistis shrugged and followed her, with their weapons in hand. 

However, as soon as one problem was solved, another presented itself. Because once they reached the ninth floor, they were greeted with an enormous beast. "Great! Here we go again…" Irvine muttered as he aimed his shotgun toward the beast.

-----*****-----

Raven had already tossed aside his sword and issued the first attack, which sent Zell flying back into the wall. The SeeD quickly got up and snickered, "Is that the best you got?" he asked as he returned the favor with an uppercut of his own. Normally, that would have injured his opponent a great deal, but Raven just stood there and took the attack head on. Surprisingly to Zell, he didn't budge an inch, but jabbed Zell in the gut once again and elbowed him on the back. Zell instantly fell to the ground, clutching his stomach.

"Pathetic. I was hoping, maybe, for some kind of challenge. But alas, you are not the one to give me that sort of excitement." he said as he kicked a fallen Zell again. "C'mon, get your spikey ass off the floor and into the air. Hmm…maybe I should incite your anger somehow? What if I called you…chicken wuss?!" the general said and laughed.

As soon as the words came out of Raven's mouth, he was decked to the floor. "You just picked the two wrong words to call me, Raven!" Zell sneered as he continued his onslaught against Raven, who had no choice but to block the martial art master's attacks. 

-----*****-----

"Yes! Finally! It is complete! My transformation into the universe's ultimate life form is complete!" Dragoon shouted as he felt a strange new presence within his body. A presence that he liked and wanted to get used to. He looked out the window at the far mountain structure. He snapped his fingers and within seconds, the mountain exploded. "Still not perfect, but close enough." He looked at his hands, and grinned devilishly when something in his body felt different. Gazing towards his hands once again, he saw them turn different colors, disappear, and then reappear. "I suppose that's just a small side effect that WILL go away." Dragoon tried to convince himself. He looked towards Rinoa, who finally started to wake up. Dragoon snickered at her and left her by herself in her prison. "Only three more hours of oxygen left my pretty, then your gone."

She sat down against the wall and brought her knees to her chest, rocking herself back and forth slowly. Her head was aching as if a huge bulldozer or something of the sort had hit her. It took her awhile to come to grips with herself, but just in time to hear the part of only three hours of oxygen left. She did nothing, spoke nothing, but just cried. She saw it all, had done it all. Another presence or something had invaded her body, and she was forced to witness all of it. From the beginning, when Dragoon had taken her from Esthar, just when she was going to tell Squall about the good news she had, to when he tried to get her in bed, and finally to her current predicament. She had seen it all and couldn't do anything to stop it. She cried for many reasons – the fact that she was too weak to resist this presence; the fact that she was forced to watch her friends suffer and enjoyed it; the fact that she was separated from him, her knight in shining armor; the person she relied upon the most. Tears were flowing down from Rinoa's angelic face onto her lap. "SQUALL! I NEED YOU!" she yelled, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would come, like he promised he would.

-----*****-----

The sphinx-griffin hybrid once again tried to claw at Squall, who barely managed to evade the attack, only to suffer a minor scratch on his left arm. "What the hell do I do?" he asked himself, trying to think of a way to beat the creature. As he looked towards it, Squall saw something he hadn't noticed earlier. The creature had a minor cut on the belly of its body. "Well, let's turn that cut into his destruction." the swordsman said calmly. He looked sideways and saw an unstable pillar. He quickly used a thundaga spell on the base of it. The pillar started to rumble and in no time, began to fall. The creature put up his two front paws to prevent it from falling on him. Squall, however, took this chance to strike. He ran up to the creature, again quickly casted a Firaga spell on the wound and then stuck his sword deep into the creature's skin. The creature felt a sharp pain, and couldn't hold up the pillar. Squall quickly moved out of the way, as the creature turned his attention to the injury, and letting the pillar fall on it. As it gave its last dying roar, Squall fell to the ground, totally exhausted.

"Damn, I can't go any further. I'm just too tired." he pointed out to himself as he casted another Curaga spell on himself, to heal him of most injuries. Just then, Rinoa's scream finally reached Squall's ears. As the young warrior looked up, he knew what he had to do next. The gunblader took his sword into his hand once again and ran for the castle.

-----*****-----

It was obvious to Raven that Zell was getting tired. He kept on bringing his onslaught, which felt like it was becoming weaker and weaker with every punch Zell was throwing at him. Just then, Zell performed a backflip and slouched a little, taking his time to gain some breath. 

  
"Well, well, well, it seems you've grown pretty tired." Raven sneered as he slowly started to stretch his arms and legs. "Now I'll show you how it's done, little boy!" With that, Raven jumped into the air and kicked Zell right in the face. The young SeeD warrior fell backwards, and slowly got up clutching his cheek. However, he had no time to recuperate as Raven started his own onslaught of punches and kicks. Zell was blocking most of them, but he knew he couldn't keep this up much longer. As a series of punches made it way to Zell's face, he took his knee and aimed it straight for Raven's stomach. Feeling the pain, the general was pushed back a little. Zell then immediately casted a Meltdown spell, which burned right through Raven. 

"Looks like your defense has just grown much weaker." Zell pointed out to an exhausted Raven. With that, Zell kicked Raven through the wall of the castle, who plunged down to the ground. "Now to finish things off. Alexander, come forth!" 

As if it appeared from nowhere, a huge machine like creature popped instantly out of the ground from the far craters. It rested its two huge feet on the sides of Raven, who at the time, had a terrified look on his face. Sparing no time at all, Alexander stared at its opponent and instantly fired several ray beams encircling the fallen general. The beams then shined brightly and instantaneously blew up with huge explosions to show for it afterwards. As soon as the dust cleared away, Raven was nowhere to be found, and having done its job, Alexander mystically disappeared in a bright flash.

"Damn, that was rough." Zell muttered as ran out of the prison cell.

-----*****-----

Selphie, Irvine and Quistis were throwing everything they could muster out at the beast in front of them, but he didn't seem to budge an inch. "Ok, let's see what this creature actually is." Irvine said as he performed a Scan spell.

*Creature name: Fallen Phoenix. Element: Fire. Weakness: Water/Ice. Description: A phoenix resembled creature, the only difference is that instead of being the usually red colored bird, it has a black coat to show for it. And instead of healing, it promotes destruction.*

"Well, at least we know its weakness." Quistis said in relief as she casted a Water-based spell. The bubble headed toward Fallen Phoenix with great speed. In response, the dark bird blew an intense gust out of its mouth and dissipated the bubble. Selphie then casted a thundaga spell while Irvine shot away his Water Bullets at the beast. Both attacks hit the creature hard, which fell back a bit, but instantly recovered his lost balance. Almost instantly, Fallen Phoenix stretched out its wings.

"Now what?" the three of them muttered out simultaneously.

A huge flame sprung forth from both wings and headed straight for the warriors. Both Selphie and Quistis quickly hid behind Irvine, who quickly used Shell, in hope to reduce the power of the fire based attack. The flame hit all three of them, and caused great damage. 

"Triple Curaga!" Selphie yelled and instantly the three of them were healed of most damage. However, the spell had worn out Selphie who slumped to the ground in exhaustion. 

"Ok, I've had enough!" Quistis exclaimed. "I summon you, Leviathan!"

Fallen Phoenix smirked, "Heheh, we'll see………"

The water based snake had presented itself from a portal in mid-air. He looked straight at his foe and smiled, thinking this would be an easy prey. Leviathan quickly brought up a huge cliff. He then went to the top and was ready to launch his attack. "You're done!"

"I don't think so." Fallen Phoenix said to himself. He once again stretched his wings. Everybody was expecting another fire based inferno, but instead, the creature summoned a huge thunder attack, which hit Leviathan dead on. Almost instantly, the serpent blew up into flames and in minutes, there was nothing more than blue ashes on the floor, which were quickly blown away by Fallen Phoenix's gust. 

"NNNOOOO!" Quistis looked in shock as she witnessed the defeat of her strongest GF, Leviathan. 

"Now its my turn!" Irvine yelled as he clenched his hand into a fist. "Show this monster what you got, Quezacotl!"

Instantly a thunderstorm cloud formed above Irvine and in a flash of lightning, a large blue/green bird popped out. Fallen Phoenix gave another small smirk as Quezacotl stared at him in the eye. 

"So now you think you actually have a chance, do you?" the creature asked to the legendary bird. 

"You rein of terror ends here." Quezacotl said as he summoned a huge thundercloud above Fallen Phoenix and in seconds, exploded into a huge bolt of lightning. Not taking any chances, Quezacotl unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts under Irvine's command. 

Irvine, Selphie and Quistis had to shield their eyes from the bright light of the lightning bolts Quezacotl was sending at his adversary. A huge explosion had come right after the successive bolts thrown at Fallen Phoenix and, for a minute, everyone stood still. Dust was everywhere, and nothing could be seen. However, just then, a huge shrill had pierced the SeeD's ears. It was just too loud, and in seconds, it was gone. Selphie, by now, had casted a small Water spell to clear out the dust. However, to their surprise, it was Quezacotl on the floor, and not Fallen Phoenix.

"H………h………how?" Irvine managed to whisper out. 

The beast smirked. "Well, when you know how to contain the energy from your opponent's attack, then you might just learn how I pulled it of." 

Irvine couldn't move. His hands were numb, and the sound of his rifle falling to the floor could be heard throughout the room. Quezacotl then, like the others before him, gave one weak shrill and slowly disappeared from sight. Selphie could see a tear from Irvine's eye. He quickly washed it away and picked up his rifle. "You fucker!! You're going to paaaaay!" Irvine yelled at the dark beast as he exploded ammo out of his rifle and onto Fallen Phoenix. "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE!" A huge barrage of what seemed like a never-ending number of bullets emerged out of Irvine's rifle, who aimed directly at his foe. As soon the clicking of the trigger could only be heard, he stopped and smiled. "I told you that you would di…"

  
Fallen Phoenix roared and the dust again, lifted from in front of him, revealing all of the bullets stopping in mid-air. He smiled. "I believe these belong to you…" he added as the bullets started to change direction. 

"Shit, we're done for." Irvine said in despair as Quistis and Selphie quickly pulled him back behind a fallen piece of the wall. All three of them sat there with their hands over their heads, awaiting their fate, but instead, all that was heard were four words.

"Let's get it….ON!" the voice yelled as its owner slammed a huge Blizzaga spell right in the back of Fallen Phoenix, who cried out in pain, and in no time, was down, along with the bullets it was about to fire back. Quistis, Selphie and Irvine turned out, knowing whom it only could be, but just had to make sure. 

"Yay! It IS Zell. Tee hee, and I thought we were goners for sure!" Selphie smiled as she ran up and hugged her comrade. 

"Hey, hey, it was nothing." Zell said as he scratched the back of his head, blushing a slight red.

With another huge roar, the fallen beast once again rose to the air. "Now, NO MERCY!" he exclaimed in anger, with fierce, red glowing eyes.

Zell smiled as the four of them got into their battle formations once again, and this time, with newfound confidence.


	8. Angelheart

****

Chapter 8 – Angelheart

He was too damn tired to go any further, and hell, he would have stopped to take a break too. But he couldn't – he had to reach her – he had to reach the person who meant everything, because without her, there would be nothing left for him to live for. As he raced up into the upper floors of the castle, he began to rethink his past. A past where there was no Rinoa; a past where he was all alone and there was absolutely nothing to live for. He would easily die in battle, not caring what happened, because he had nobody to care for him. He would have easily have gave it all up, and then he wouldn't have to worry about anything for that matter, even himself.

But now, all that had changed; she has changed him completely. From the cold, lone wolf, to a knight sworn to protect his love. Squall knew there was everything to live for, as long as she remained alive and unharmed. 

He killed everything in his path. Every monster that stood in his way from his goal would die. As soon as he reached the eighth floor, it then occurred to him that he had lost Ifrit. He had not thought about it before, but now, something fell out of place within himself, without the Guardian Force to fill it up. He was the first guardian force he captured, and since then, he and Ifrit had only gotten stronger, but no more. Squall sliced his gunblade into the near pillar, which split into two pieces seconds after. "No more losses…" he slowly said. "No more…"

It just then reached his ears that there was a battle going on in the floor above. His icy, cold, blue eyes then turned into anger, thinking that his friends were in trouble, and he was not there helping them right now. Totally exhausted and almost completely out of breath, he still raced up one more story…

-----*****-----

"SHIT! This damn creature ain't going down!" Zell yelled as he placed another well hit Blizzaga spell into hit Fallen Phoenix's back. Irvine, Selphie and Quistis followed up after Zell, summoning strong ice spells of their own, which all successfully hit the already fallen beast. "Now we finish him." Zell began, but a bit too soon.

At that moment, the dark Phoenix arose from the dust and roared a shrill deafening enough to break eardrums. If it weren't for the GFs, the four SeeDs would have lost one of the five senses. In a split second, the air born beast spread out its wings. "IT'S OVER!" it yelled as a huge inferno blast emerged from its wings.

The four of them had no time to counter, for as soon as they opened their mouths, they were hit from the blazing flame that torched everything in its path. After the attack had diminished, all that was left to be seen was a dark beast in the air, towering over four fallen SeeDs. Zell looked up as he tried to cast one more spell, but fell down in exhaustion and weakness. "So this is it?' he began in his mind. "This is where we all will be buried." he said weakly, as he awaiting his fate.

The beast looked around and saw the four humans on the ground, barely able to lift a muscle. He then looked at Zell, who had hurt him far more than the others had. "I'll start with you, you fucking excuse of a life." With that, the Phoenix lifted its wings again, but this time, it was not looking at Zell, but at another Phoenix, however, this one, being the normal red color is should be.

The Red Phoenix gave a huge shrill, a shrill that was relaxing to all pure minds – a shrill that annoyed the Fallen Phoenix to the point of confusion. All the enemy could do was cower away and cover its ears with its wings. The Red Phoenix looked at the four comrades below and spread out its wings. "LIFE!" it yelled as tiny particles of light fell from its heavenly glowing wings and landed on all four SeeDs. Almost instantaneously, Zell got up and felt a huge resurgence of life within him. He flexed his arms and legs as he looked around. Just as he had expected, his other three friends also were up and about. Zell then turned his attention to the Red Phoenix, who suddenly burned into flames, and soon enough, turned into ashes.

Selphie looked in amazement as she witnessed the whole thing. She started to cry, feeling sorry for the poor thing, when suddenly the thought popped into her head. "HEY! Nobody here has the power to summon Phoenix, and neither of us has the item, Phoenix Pinion. Then………how……?" she ended.

Irvine, Zell and Quistis nodded, thinking of how it could have occurred when the dark Phoenix arose from its hiding place. The four of them were about to attack but had no time. The creature had called its attack to quickly. "Not again…" Selphie cried out 

"INFERNO BLA…." However much it tried, the creature could not finish its sentence, as it slowly fell to the ground. The four SeeDs looked upon it in shock, still amazed that it was taken down so easily. Then everything had become clear. Imbedded in the heart of the creature was a blue gunblade, pierced deep into Fallen Phoenix's skin. 

The phoenix slowly died out and exploded into ashes. All that was left was the Lionheart, the baby blue gunblade lying on the ground. As Quistis was about to move towards it, footsteps were heard in the distance. Cold footsteps, that stepped hard against the stone floor; footsteps that sounded so familiar. Then a hand bent down and picked up the fallen blade, only to reveal that it belonged to the scarred warrior they befriended so long ago.

"SQUALL!!" Both Quistis and Selphie jumped in joy as they ran to the dust covered warrior. His black pants almost multi-colored, and his white shirt, not white anymore. His face was worn out. His icy blue eyes, once filled with anger and revenge, slowly changed to a look that was only filled with nothing but compassion, a sign that he was relieved that his friends were not hurt. Both Zell and Irvine stared at him quietly for a second, and then smiled, walking over to him. 

"It's about time you bozo!" Selphie cried as she hugged him. Quistis joined in the hug, but quickly let go, seeing that Selphie was choking the life out of him.

"Uh, yeah, whatever..." Squall choked out as he felt the breath being sucked out of him. 

"Hey Selphie, at that rate, you're going to kill him." Irvine added. Selphie smiled as she reluctantly let go of her friend and quickly wiped away her tears. She thought he was dead, but yet, he was here, right in front of her face. She was at a lost for words, so hugged him again once more before leaving him alone.

"Hey Squall……………" Zell began but was cut out completely.

  
"I know Zell………" was the only thing out of the lone wolf's mouth. "I know. You guys take care of the power core." he said with a smile as he began to ascent what he hoped would be the final group of stairs.

Zell looked around. Sure, he was very ecstatic that Squall was alive and all, but they had a mission. "Hey guys, sorry to break up your thoughts and all, but you heard what the guy said." the martial artist began to say as he cracked his knuckles. "Let's go kick some ass!"

"Right on!" Irvine smiled as he readied his shotgun with ammunition.

-----*****-----

She grabbed her necklace, the necklace that held both her mother's ring and _his_ ring. In a few more minutes it would be all over. Every dream she thought about as a small child would be unfulfilled. Every thought she ever held would expire out into nothing. However much she didn't want that to happen, she just couldn't ignore her conscience. It was telling her that it's going to be all over in those few minutes. But her heart just wouldn't give in, telling her that Squall was coming right now. After all, she had to hope for **two** lives now.

Then it happened, as she was taking an inhale of breath. Nothing was registering in her lungs. Her vision had already slowly started to become fuzzy. She was tired from all the suffering she had gone through and a part of her wanted to leave all this pain behind. But still, the other part knew she had something to live for, if not Squall, than for **it**. 

Everything then happened so slowly. She felt her eyes close, she was running out of breath. She stood up and started to wobble. As she went to close her eyes for the last time, something had grabbed a hold of her, her delicate hand. Then, as if a miracle, oxygen made her way into her respiratory system. At first, she thought she was dead, but all the surroundings slowly came back to her – the damp cell, the small bed and the…

She looked up, only to find everything she had hoped for right in front of her. Everything she dreamed of was holding her in his arms. His voice started to record in her mind. _"Don't leave me. I'm here Rinoa, I'm here. Everything will be fine."_

"Squall…………" she questioned hopefully as she looked up as her vision finally targeted on him. 

"Yes, it's Squall." he smiled, in relief with tears pouring down his eyes.

Just then, she couldn't hold back anymore and tightly hugged him as hard as she could. She started to cry, making his shirt damper that it was before. "I'm scared Squall, I'm very scared Squall."

"Just stay close to me, and everything will be fine."

Those words – that phrase. The phrase that started it all. In an instant, a flashback in Rinoa's mind took her back to the Deling City parade, where she was foolish enough to think that she could stand up against the sorceress. But the sorceress instantly took control of her and left her for the Iguana monsters to eat. Back then, she and Squall never really got along to well. But when he fought those monsters off, she told him the very same thing. _She was scared…terrified._ And his response, one of the few phrases she'll never forget, _"Just stay close to me."_

Almost as soon as she was gone, she came back to reality and just kept crying in Squall's arms. The warrior closed his eyes and returned the hug back, wanting to make sure she was there, wanting to feel her skin against his. It had been too long since he had last touched her. He wanted to make sure all of this was a reality. And when he reopened his eyes, she was still there. He smiled to himself, and he still kept Rinoa encircled in his arms, hoping she would calm down.

No matter how hard he had tried to pacify her, she just wouldn't stop crying. Squall knew he had to look her in the eye. Slowly, he removed her arms from around his waist, but still held them in his hand. He then tilted up her face so he could see her. _"Damn, she's just as beautiful as ever, like an angel.'_ he thought to himself.

Just then, a portion of the ceiling fell, closing out the only exit of the room, but however, nothing was able to distract the two of them.

When they finally locked eyes, Rinoa's tears had stopped falling. She was still scared, but never felt more secure in her entire life than in that moment. Her knight was right there in front of her, holding onto her hands. Warmth had spread into her body. She now knew she was safe, safe from everything – all the evils of the world. He slowly tilted her head to the side. "Rinoa, you're cut in many places. Here, let me heal you." he slowly uttered out as he used Cure on her. As soon as the spell was over, Rinoa just couldn't hold it back any longer, and jumped onto Squall, who was forced onto his back. She locked him in the most passionate kiss she could muster out at the time, and surprisingly to her, he returned with just as much passion as she gave. They were locked within each other's grasp for what seemed to them, an eternity's worth of time. She wouldn't let go, and he was glad it was that way. It had just been to long since their last, real kiss, like the very first one they shared five months ago. Finally, when they just couldn't breathe anymore, both of them released and gasped for air. Rinoa smiled at him, and in response, he smiled back to her warmly.

"Squall…my powers are gone…" she blurted out in a soft voice, wanting to make sure he knew every detail.

Squall got up from the ground, and sat next to Rinoa, who still was still trembling in fear. He picked up the lightweight Rinoa and placed her on his lap as he encircled his arms around her once again. Squall gently rocked her back and forth in his arms and caressed her soft raven hair. "Don't worry about it." he replied. Rinoa let out a sigh of relief as she rested her head against his chest. It was then, when she felt that nothing in the world could hurt her; sitting in her knight's lap was a moment she never wanted to end.

The two of them just sat there, and if there were any disturbance, Squall swore to himself it wouldn't last too long. It took some courage, but after ten minutes of complete silence, he had to break the ice between them. "Rinoa, looks like your gaining some weight." the lion-hearted man chuckled as he slowly pointed to her stomach. 

  
Rinoa smiled, still trembling. _'Do I tell him the truth now? It's a good of time as any, and I might not get the chance to tell him again. Ok, here I go…'_ Rinoa inhaled slowly and exhaled the same way. "Squall…I'm pregnant."

It was then that she couldn't feel his warmth anymore, mainly because he had slowly let go of her without her noticing, but she knew that wasn't the case. She looked up to him and found him staring off into the distance, having one of his "moments."

His mind was racing with so many thoughts, he just didn't know where to turn. In the end, Dragoon was the only monster left in his mind. _'That bastard. First he kidnaps her, and now this. Oh Hyne, what in the world do I do?'_

Rinoa kept looking at him as he stood up and walked around the room. She once again brought her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth slowly, waiting for his reaction. 

"DAAAAAMN!" was all Squall could think of. 

  
Rinoa looked at him with shock and quickly got up. "What? What is so _DAMN_ about this?" she asked curiously at him.

"What is so Damn, you ask?" Squall replied in anger; he didn't want to, it just came out that way. "Your pregnant! That's what's so DAMN!" he replied, shocked at his own words. "This child is a curse." he quickly added as he reached for his fallen Lionheart blade on the floor.

"SQUALL LEONHART! How DARE you say that!" Rinoa yelled to him. Squall was in shock, but before he could repudiate, she just kept on going. "This child is a blessing! And if for one minute…"

__

"Damn, I think Dragoon may have some control over her.' he quietly said to himself while giving the impression he was listening. But when he heard the word _blessing_ out of her mouth, he put one finger up to her lip, which hushed her instantly. "Dragoon is going to DIE a most horrible death now for what sin he has committed to you!" he yelled at the air and he chucked a rock through a window.

__

'Oh my god!' Rinoa began to herself, putting her hand to her head. _'Hyne, I've forgotten to tell him the most important thing. No wonder he's mad. Now I understand, and I don't blame him at all, but I better speak now before its too late.'_

"Um, uh………" she started as she slowly walked towards his back.

Once he turned around, she received eyes, once full with compassion for her, now in fierce, deep anger and hatred for Dragoon. "What!?" he asked in anger, not meant for her.

"Uh, umm………" she stuttered.

"Well, spit it out already!" her knight commanded impatiently.

But first she wanted some payback. "Squall, I should slap you at what you just said about **our** baby. If for one minute…."

"What the hell do you mean, **our** baby?!" he roared back into the air, not wanting to yell at her.

  
Rinoa eyes flashed in anger. "You know you idiot!! The one you and I produced!! On that night of the celebration…"

"You………an………and………I?" Squall managed to choke out as he fell back to the ground on his knees.

  
Rinoa eyes turned back to tenderness as she nodded in agreement, smiling. "Why do you think I went away that fateful week all those months ago? I wanted to be certain that I was pregnant. I know that being a sorceress, the chances of me having a child is slim to none, but I just wanted to make sure. I went to Esthar and consulted Dr. Odine. He then nodded in agreement, and my thoughts were right." In that instant, those once angry blue eyes once again turned back to compassion, but to Rinoa, they more resembled more of a scared child – scared about the future. She sat down next to him and clutching his arm and resting her head against it. She had just witnessed two sides of Squall she had never seen before.

He was dumbfounded, and for one thing, at a loss of words. He just couldn't mutter out anything that would make sense to say at a time like this. Who would of thought that in that one night, that one time they had gotten physically close to one another, they actually produced it. A flashback went through his mind as he rethought the events right after the battle with Ultimecia. There was a grand party held the week after. Once he and Rinoa had finished with their **first** kiss under the shooting star, she told him that she was tired. Squall smiled and picked her up in his arms, escorting her back to his room, due to the fact that Rinoa did not have a dorm room at the moment. Just as he had entered his room, he knew something was up when Rinoa jumped out of his arms and onto the bed. She had tricked him to get him alone………alone for the night………a night he would never forget.

The flashback ended as Squall just looked at Rinoa as he raced his hand through his brown hair. He wasn't ready for this. He looked in himself. _'Hyne, I'm not ready for this. It's just way too soon. But don't get me wrong, I am glad that it was me instead of Dragoon, but man, I am just not ready.'_

"Squall………" she began.

"Yeah?"

"I've been thinking this over. And I have a proposition. Don't say anything till you hear me out, ok?" she asked him innocently.

How could he refuse her? "Ok, I'm listening."

Rinoa took another deep inhale and exhaled slowly. "If **our** baby is a boy, I'll name him. But if the baby turns out to be a girl, I want you to come up with a name. Kay?" she finished, looking up into his eyes, waiting for some kind of answer.

  
Squall returned her stare and then looked away into the distance again. _'What kind of proposition is that? I can't think of any names, especially for a girl. And for starters, I'm not even ready for this child. But hell, I suppose I do have time to think things over, and if it makes her happy………'_ Squall then looked back into her eyes and sighed in defeat. "Ok, fine, you got yourself a deal."

"Oh, thank you Squall!" she said happily as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. She then again rested on his arm, thinking that the lone wolf would make a great father, no matter what gender the child was. She sighed happily, and closed her eyes, thinking of the future. As she lifted her right hand, it was then that she noticed the ring that was placed on her ring finger. At first, she had no clue what it resembled. She thought of it as merely a regular Lunar Ring, but when she looked at Squall's, it looked completely different, looked more beautiful than his ring. "Hey Squall, how come my ring looks different from yours?" she asked purely as she put her hand next to his.

Sweat was all over his face. Fighting huge monsters was easy, but answering this question was going to be difficult. He knew damn right why her ring was different. He requested that it be to be made that way. Sure, Dr. Odine gave him a quizzical look when he asked him to do it, but it was worth it. Then the idea popped into his head to answer it is an engagement ring. He couldn't deny he never thought about the future, spending eternity with her, before, but would this be too early. _'Let's hope not…'_ he slowly thought.

"Well, uh, um, that's because, well………" he sweated out. 

"Well, spit it out!" she commanded impatiently, in a teasing way however.

"It's an engagement ring." he muttered under his breath.

Rinoa was shocked at the answer as her insides were jumping for joy. But she wanted him to say it louder. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. Can you repeat that Commander?" she asked smugly.

She wasn't going to make it easy for him. _'Fine, be like that. If you want to embarrass me some more, you've won then.'_ "It's an engagement ring!" he yelled out to the room.

She sat there, shocked at his emotional outburst. She had let go of his arm that instant and looked at the ring more carefully. It then hit her. It was pure diamond – with angel wings spreading out of it. At first, she didn't know what to make of it. Was it some kind of symbol – but then it hit her. Squall always said she was an angel. This was clearly out of pure love. She didn't know how to react. Turning back to him, she saw that he was looking the other way. So she tapped him on the shoulder.

  
He turned his head toward her. "You don't like………" He couldn't finish his sentence. Rinoa had completely thrown herself onto him, making him fall backwards once again, giving him another passionate kiss that matched the one they just had a few minutes ago. He had no other choice but to submit. His insides felt so different than they usually did – felt as if they were being melted away in a hot summer day. _'Is this………love?' _he calmly asked himself.

Almost as fast as it had started, it ended, with Squall again, gasping for air. However, Rinoa looked at him seductively, and then burst out into tears, all the while giving him a huge hug.   
  
"Why are you crying, Rinoa?" he asked surprisingly, thinking she probably hated the ring.

"You don't know HOW long I've been waiting for this day!" she cried in his arms. "I love you Squall, and yes, I'll marry you!"

  
He was stunned. He never asked that. But then how did she know he was thinking that? '_Is that what an engagement ring is all about? Marriage?'_ The word seemed so foreign to Squall, as if he had never heard of it before. All of these thoughts were new to him, but he smiled as he ran his hand through her soft, raven hair. He made up his mind, he would give up everything to spend the rest of his life with her. "I think we should find the others." he whispered into her ears, knowing that they had to get out of there.

She smiled and nodded. Her insides were flooded with something new. She went from no reasons to two reasons to live: their baby, and Mrs. Rinoa Leonhart. _'Rinoa Leonhart, ohhh that name sounds soooo good!'_ she smiled as they tried to find a way out.


	9. Three Hours

****

Chapter 9 – Three Hours

"Damn, I can't see a freakin' thing in this darkness." Zell's voice breathed out as he bumped into something in front of him. "Hey, I think I ran into a monster!" he added quickly as he was ready to punch the beast.

"Heeeeey!" Selphie squeaked out. "Watch where you're going Zell! That hurt." She began to rub the back of her head.

"Ohh, sorry Selph. I thought you were a monster."

"WHAT! Now you're in for in mister!" the energetic girl yelled as she lunged for whom she thought was Zell. 

"Owww. Selphie, watch who you're hitting!" Irvine squeaked out, rubbing his cheek.

"Oopps, sorry Irvy!" she chuckled.

Quistis frowned despite the fact that no one could see her face. "Everyone, hold on." The Instructor then slowly reached for her pocket and pulled out a small flare. She lighted it up, which almost illuminated the whole room. 

"Hey! Good idea." Zell replied as he pulled out one of his own.

Irvine looked around. They had not gone too deep into this hallway when the lights suddenly stopped shining. As he looked up ahead, there was a fork in the road, splitting the once single hall into two more passages. "Now what shall we do? I don't think it's a good idea to split up, since the monsters so far are like, super powerful. Any bright ideas?"

"Uh………well I was going to suggest we split up, but you do have a point there, Irvine." Zell commented.

"Hush!" Quistis fiercely whispered. "I think I hear someone coming from behind us. Quick, turn of your flares!"

Zell instantly turned his bright flame off and Quistis did the same. The two of them back up against the wall and squatted down to their knees, hoping to avoid any contact with the incoming voices. "Listen to them carefully, they might say something important." Quistis murmured. 

"Damn, these stupid lights go out all the time. I wonder why someone doesn't replace them." the first voice said. "Can you see where you're going?"

"Yea, yea, just hold on to me. I memorized these passages by heart. I think that the power core might be running low on energy. We better charge it up before we lose too much power, and those lousy kids take advantage." the second voice replied. 

The first voice stayed quiet for a minute. "Ok, fine. Hey, aren't there two passages to take here. I never knew which one leads to the power core. You?" 

"Damnit! I think that piece of brick falling on your head did something to your pathetic brain, knucklehead! We take the left passage! And don't forget it! And if you do happen to forget, you'll die, because if you take the right passage, it'll lead to Weapon Y, remember?"

"Ohhh yeaa……… Ok, lets go." the first voice responded, as they took a left turn.

The four SeeDs waited till they knew for sure that the two monsters weren't coming back. What seemed like forever to Zell, felt like two seconds for Quistis, so they waited for five minutes. "Ok, you heard the guys. We take right!" Quistis commanded.

"Weren't you listening! That's where Weapon Y is. We go left!" Selphie shouted in a whisper to her.

Quistis grinned. "Good, I see you have been improving on your listening skills Selphie. Ok, be prepared for anything." she directed to everyone. "Everybody junctioned properly?"

"Yes." the other three answered in unison.

With weapons in hand, the four of them walked slowly into the left passage, not sure of what to expect. Zell took the lead, punching the air in front of him constantly, not taking any chances. If there were any monsters in front of him, it would be knocked down. Quistis followed with Selphie behind her and Irvine taking the last position, constantly firing Silent Ammo behind him, just to make sure.

"Damn, this passageway is long." Selphie grunted out. "Hopefully we didn't miss any other passage along the way, or else everything is lost."

  
"We haven't. I've been checking the walls with my hands." Irvine said reassuringly. "If there's another passage, trust me, we'll know about it." he added as he grabbed Selphie's hand. To his surprise, she accepted the grip and held his hand tight too. _'Score!' _Irvine smiled into the darkness.

"Hey, I see light." Zell mumbled out quietly, after ten minutes of walking. 

"Ok, everybody ready?" Quistis asked again to make sure.

"Yes." both Irvine and Selphie replied. 

"Let's go kick some ass!" Zell added as he cracked his knuckles again. "By the way, what's the plan?"

Irvine and Selphie also nodded, wanting to know how they would attack. Quistis never really thought about it. She always hoped an opportunity would present itself and they would take advantage of it. But then again, the power core was already low on energy. This was their opportunity. "We're busting in!" she answered as she cracked out her whip.

"Finally, some action." Zell and Selphie hooted out in excitement.

The four of them ran the rest of the way, ready to take out anything that stood against them. And if worst came to worst, they knew they had some very powerful GF's to back them up. When they finally reached the lighted room, they were expecting to see hordes of monsters working on recharging the power core. Instead, they only found a huge blue crystal right in the middle of the room, with wires attaching to the base of it, with a strange white fluid flowing into the crystal.

"What the hell? This is just too easy." Zell remarked as he stared into the shining blue crystal in front of him.

"I agree." Irvine and Selphie added.

Quistis also nodded her head. _'Zell's right. This is just too easy. Something must be up. Where did those two monsters go that were in the passageway earlier?'_

Just then, two huge arms came and hit both Selphie and Quistis into the far wall, leaving them unconscious, and totally oblivious to what just happened.

"Selphie………!" Irvine began as he ran after her, only to be stopped short by a huge arm. "What the………"

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" a voice called out, as if from every direction.

"Show yourself you fuckin' coward!" Zell yelled, still staring at the huge machine type creature that was blocking them from the crystal. 

"Hey, c'mon now chicken-wuss! Is that a way to greet an old friend?" the voice boomed out.

Zell's face turned upside-down as shock ran all over his face. "You've got to be kidding me! I thought I took you out."

The room instantly lit up with a sudden bright flash of light, as it blinded the two remaining SeeD's momentarily. As they slowly regained their focus, they looked up, only to be greeted by Raven. Irvine immediately blasted out three AP bullets straight at Raven, but with a wave of his hand, they stopped in mid-air and dropped hazily down to the ground. "C'mon guys. I thought we were all tight!" he boasted out in laughter. Almost instantly, he regained his composure. "Anyway, I've been given **strict** orders to take you guys out, and until I do, don't think I'll rest – I suggest you remember that!" He once again took a look at them for awhile and started to laugh. "Man, you guys are SO gullible. To think, the top-ranked SeeDs of the pitiful planet Earth, fooled by two worthless monster decoys. How sad.………" 

Zell and Irvine rolled their eyes and quickly took a glance at their fallen comrades behind the huge machine monster. _'They seem ok from the outside, just unconscious.'_ Zell slowly stated in his mind, reassuring himself they were still alive. 

Irvine on the other hand, rushed for Selphie on more time, but was again, blocked by the huge arm from the unknown creature in front of them. _'Hang of Sefie, I'm comin'!'_ Irvine then raised his gun at Raven again, but didn't shoot, knowing it would be a waste.

Raven smiled at them. '_That sympathy will be their downfall!'_ he bellowed to himself. "Well, I see you pathetic losers are very concerned about your unconscious friends over there. Hey, I got an idea. Make it easy on you and just let my pet kill you, and then I'll think about releasing your friends, eh?" he asked curiously.

"Fuck off!" the duo replied instantly.

"Very well, then." the general snickered out. "Allow me then to introduce you to my pet here, Weapon Y. We've haven't given him a formal name yet, but I think the title SeeD Killer can be an appropriate one, don't you think?" The monster then raised its huge arms and brought them down with intense speed. Nipping Zell on the shoulder, the SeeD warrior was instantly tossed to the ground, but quickly got back up, clutching his injury and moved out of the way. Irvine on the other hand, was able to dodge the arm successfully and began mercilessly attacking the monster with his shotgun, but to his surprise, it didn't even dent his skin.

  
"Shit, we're in trouble." he nervously pointed out to Zell, who sadly agreed.

-----*****-----

After what seemed hours to her, Rinoa finally fell to the floor in exhaustion. "Squall, we've been looking for hours and there is no way out!"

Squall took a look at his watch. "Actually Rinny, we've only been looking for ten minutes."

  
Rinoa however, instantly got up and ran right in front of Squall. "What did you call me?" she asked with a twinkle in her eyes.

Squall stepped back a stepped. "Uh………what? I called you Rinoa, didn't I?" he answered unknowingly, not quite sure what she was referring to.

"You called me………Rinny!" her eyes lighted up even further in happiness and delight as she closed the distance between them. "Is that a name out of………**love**?!" she asked shyly as she folded her hands in back of her and looked down onto the ground, moving her leg around.

Squall's face was a look of embarrassment, shock, and love put together. '_I called her that? I never meant to say that out load. Sure, I always thought it sounded kind of cute, but still, I never wanted to say that out loud…'_

"Mister Commander! If you always keep your thoughts to yourself, I'll never know what you're thinking!" she once again said smugly. "So, is it?"

"Um, uhh………" '_Time to confess Squall, you're not getting out of this one.'_ Squall once again regained his composure, but was still blushing faintly. He still was not used to openly revealing his feelings to anyone, even with Rinoa. "Whatever………." he calmly stated in a confessing but in an indifferent tone of voice, trying to suppress any emotion but had a hard time trying.

  
Rinoa, on the other hand, could tell Squall was having a hard time saying that he loved her. Sure, she knew that, but he had yet to say it in those three little words she had been waiting to hear from day one. _'I suppose it's a start…' _she thought. The innocent angel smiled and gave Squall a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." she whispered.

Squall smiled and as Rinoa was walking away whispered, "Your welcome" in a low voice so she couldn't hear.

After another ten minutes of futile attempts to find an exit out of the room, Squall pulled out a small explosive out of his pouch. "Well, I was going to save this for later, just in case, but I suppose this is a good of time as any to use it." Squall then walked toward the center of the room and placed the explosive down. He then ran over to Rinoa, and covered her up. "Cover your ears." he commanded.

Rinoa nodded and did as she was told. Squall then casted a Protect shield over the both of them and then pressed the ignite button in his hand. The little bomb erupted into a huge explosion, shaking the foundations of the room vigorously. Squall bent down and hugged Rinoa, trying to protect her from any debris that may come their way. The force of the explosion threw the two of them into the wall, Squall being the first one to hit, took most of the damage and fell to the floor, with Rinoa on top of him. 

  
Minutes later, after she was sure the explosion ended, Rinoa immediately got up and faced Squall, who looked unconscious. "Squall, get up!" she said forcefully. However, the body didn't budge an inch. Tears started to flow out of Rinoa uncontrollably as she tried to wake up her love with all her might. "SQUALL!" she cried out as tears landed on his eyelids. With that, he finally moved his arm and squinted his eyes open, only to reveal a crying Rinoa. He smiled as he wiped away the tears from his angel's face. "Relax, after all I've been though, I'm not going to leave you both of you now." he softly reassured in a fragile sounding voice, pointing to her stomach.

Rinoa buried her face in his chest and still cried uncontrollably. "I thought I………**we**………lost you………again………" she blurted out, noticing Squall cared as much for the baby as he did her.

The knight smiled as he ran his hair through her raven hair once again, while hugging her. "Didn't I tell you to relax? And remember, I promised." 

With that, Rinoa looked up and into his eyes and smiled brightly with tears still falling from her face. Squall gave her a quick kiss on the lips before he got up, helping Rinoa up as well. "Ok, let's find our friends." 

Rinoa smiled and took a hold of Squall's hand as they carefully climbed down the rocks that were leading to the floor beneath. She knew that they were going to get out of this place alive………all **three** of them with their friends.

-----*****-----

Irvine and Zell were able to dodge the second arm attack and in no time, were backed up against the wall. "Quick Irvine, scan it!" Zell commanded.

Almost immediately, Irvine pointed out his hand and unleashed a small aura around him. To him, time seemed to freeze as every bit of information about the monster slowly entered his mind. "Got it!" 

*Creature name: Darkened Bahamut. Element: Flying/Machine/Dragon. Weakness: Lightning/None. Description: A flying machine, type monster built exactly like the real Guardian Force, Bahamut. Although he is a machine, he has a wicked heart of a real ruby dragon.*

"Damn! Why do all the monsters here resemble our Guardian Forces? Its just seems so strange." Irvine added as he spat out the information he gathered.

  
"No time to talk Irv………" At the moment, the mechanical dragon unleashed a huge beam from its mouth, aimed directly for the two SeeDs. Irvine immediately casted up a Protect Shield, which only caused him to stumble a few feet behind up, however his shield was cracked open. Zell, on the other hand, was not as quick and was hit with the blast head on, sending him flying back into the wall twenty feet behind them, where he quickly landed in the rubble, barely holding on.

__

'Shit, that was my fault! Shouldn't have preoccupied him with the question.' Irvine quickly blamed himself in his mind. Irvine instantaneously casted down a strong Thundaga spell, which hit Darkened Bahamut head on. "Take this you piece of SHIT!" he yelled as he quickly ran for Zell. 

The injured warrior slowly got to his knees and casted a Curaga spell, curing him of most damages to his body. _'If I'm not too careful, I'm going to run out of cures…' _With the thought running in his mind, he got up and managed to see the spell Irvine used that seemingly hit the adversary dead on. "Great job Irvine! Now, let me finish it up!" Zell bent his knees and extended his right arm, "Alexander, show him what you got!!!"

Raven smirked. "Not this time………"

Once again, the huge machine-like creature rose up from the mountains and rested its two massive feet right between Darkened Bahamut – as if it was David versus Goliath, with Alexander having the size advantage. He started down the evil machine and unleashed a barrage of rays around Darkened Bahamut. 

"NOW – Finish him off Darkened Bahamut!" Raven ordered loudly from his position, above the action.

The flying-machine creature went to the air as Alexander was initializing its attack and opened his mouth, only to reveal a huge ball of energy forming at the surface. "Quadra Flare!" it announced as the energy ball shot straight from its mouth and collided with Alexander heavily, shaking the whole room dynamically. 

Zell and Irvine shielded their eyes in shock, thinking that the Thundaga spell casted by Irvine earlier damaged the enemy, but unfortunately, did nothing to stop his onslaught. As the duo once again waited for the smoke to clear, they nervously readied themselves with both Protect and Shell shields. "I have a bad feeling about this Zell." the cowboy squeaked out.

"Please don't remind me." his friend replied in a depressed voice.

The smoke rose from the battlefield, only to show Zell's and Irvine's worst fears. There was no sign of Alexander, only the enemy monster who was slowly descending from the air, onto the ground, right in front of the duo. The monster again opened his mouth, gathering up energy for his next attack. 

"When I say now, you do what we planned earlier!" Zell commanded again, and didn't wait for a reply. Irvine nodded to show he heard and took an awkward stance, as if to run away. Darkened Bahamut unleashed another Quadra Flare at his opponents, which headed toward them in great speed.

__

'Wait for it………wait for it………' "NOW!" Zell yelled as he took to the right while Irvine ran toward the left, both successfully dodging Darkened Bahamut's attack. "Ok, lets gooo!" Zell followed up as he ran behind the monster and jumped onto his back, unleashing series of Thundaga spells onto the monster. Irvine took a sharp turn towards the enemy and slid under beneath him, where he fired his special Thunder Bullets into the monster's chest. Both warriors, after using their respective attacks, quickly got out of the way of Darkened Bahamut as he started to cry out in pain, clutching a spot where a heart would have been.

"Well Raven, it looks like your monster was not as invincible as you hoped it might be." Zell said with a smirk. 

  
Raven looked upon his dying creation as it collapsed to the floor and exploded into rubble. His facial expression revealed only shock; _'How the hell did two amateur fighters take down one of my strongest creations?!' _The general wide opened mouth turned into a small smiled as he started to clap his hands. "Bravo – it seems you guys are more powerful than I thought you were. Anyway, I have more important matters to attend to, like destroying your planet. And oh yea, before I forget, good luck in finding your friends, you'll need it." Raven then disappeared into thin-air.

Irvine and Zell frantically looked around for their fallen comrades, but there was no trace of them anywhere. "FUCK!" Irvine screamed out as he slammed his fist into the wall as hard as he could. "Selphie!! Where are you!?" he yelled out as he broke down in tears.

There were too many things on his mind. The planet, Squall, Rinoa, Irvine, Quistis, Selphie; hell, he wasn't even sure of himself. _'Hyne! Please, guide us!'_ Zell roared out in his mind, and as if almost on cue, part of the wall fell down revealing a secret passage, which seemed only to lead higher up into the castle.

Irvine looked up between sobs as the wall cracked open. Without any words, both warriors nodded, mutually agreeing that this passage was the next destination.

-----*****-----

"Are the remaining airships ready for the launch?" Laguna choked out.

"Yes sir!" was the reply.

Ellone was holding on to her uncle's arm, still trying to beg him not to give the order to launch the airships that were fully filled with explosives. "Laguna! They are alive. I KNOW IT!" she cried out in despair, collapsing on the ground as her knees went weak. 

Tears flowed out of the old man's eyes. As much as he believed her, he couldn't turn back now. _'I'm sorry Elly………' _"Launch the ships………"

Dr. Odine nodded as he signaled for the launch confirmation to the workmen. 

The time that felt like an eternity was only twenty minutes later when the airships were launched for the intended crash onto the moon. Dr. Odine slowly walked toward the exit, only to stop and whisper something to Laguna and Ellone. "If they are alive, they have onzly three hourz." 


	10. The End is Near

****

Chapter 10 – The End is Near

"Squall, I'm tired."

The young fighter turned to look at his angel. She was giving him this sad looking puppy face kind of expression. She wanted something from him, and he knew what that was, but he was not going to give in without a fight. 

  
"Yeah Rinoa. I've heard it before. Look, I'm beat too, but we have to keep on walking." Squall took her hand, smirked, and led her down the rubble stairs and into the room where Fallen Phoenix had indeed, fallen. Squall looked around. _'Why aren't they back yet? Something must be up.'_

Rinoa looked at Squall. "Squall, I also want to know what's wrong," she said with a look of concern in her face.

The lone wolf crossed his arms and stood there, trying to contemplate what to do next when Rinoa's question popped up. He frowned and sighed. "Well, Zell and the others said they were going down that hall………" he began as he pointed toward the darkened passage, "………to destroy the power core we were originally supposed to do. But it seems like they are taking too long, something must have come their way."

"Well!" Rinoa said with a grump. "What are you waiting for! Let's go after them. They might need our help." she added as started to drag her boyfriend towards the passage.

"Hey, wait a minute here………" Squall began.

Rinoa quickly turned around and glared into his stormy blue eyes. "Look, if you're not going, then I am!" And with that, she started walking towards the passage when she gave out a small cry. Almost instantly, she reached for in back in pain as she started to fall, only to land on the soft, loving hands owned by Squall. She looked back up and him and faintly smiled. "I guess I'm out of shape."

Squall faintly smiled back. "Probably, and plus, you're carrying a four-month old baby in there Mrs. Leonhart, and if you don't want to get on my bad side, you better start taking in nice and easy."

Rinoa's heart liquefied at the sound of Squall calling her his wife. She would have never expected it out of his mouth in a million years. "You called me Mrs. Leonhart………" she whispered in a giggle to his ear, with small tears of joy threatening to come out of her eyes.

__

'You idiot Squall………' he began to himself. _'………once again, you said something out loud that was supposed to be kept in your mind.' _The gunblader smiled as he slowly lifted Rinoa into his arms. "Yeah, I hope you don't mind. Anyway, since your tired, I guess I'll have the liberty of carrying you around." Squall added as he adjusted Rinoa in his arms comfortably and started toward the passage. _'Well, she got what she wanted………'_

"Nope, as a matter of fact, I love it." Rinoa added as she gave him a small kiss on the cheek. _'First angel, then Rinny, and now Mrs. Leonhart! Squall is just surprising me every second. He must have missed me like crazy. Before I know it, he might just say those three little words I've been dying to hear. I just wish I could make it up to him………'_ Her thoughts were interrupted by Squall.

"If you don't mind, hold on to his flare. It'll help us see in the dark passage." he said as he handed her the small flame.

After minutes of silence, with Rinoa in Squall's arms, resting her head against his chest while holding the small flame in front of them, they soon came to the same fork in the road where the other four SeeDs earlier were. Squall gently placed Rinoa down on her own two feet, who still clutched onto Squall's arm, afraid of the dark and leaned against him, to make sure she would feel him at all times. 

The knight eyed both directions with whatever light the flare was giving off, thinking on how to know which way is right of left. _'Hyne, what do I to next. So far, everywhere I've been, there was something to lead the way – now I don't have a single sign and with Rinoa to worry about, I have to be extra careful………'_

"I say we go right!" Rinoa blurted out from nowhere.

Squall eyed her curiously. "And what makes you think that?"

"Well, uh……" Rinoa really had no explanation of why she thought right. It was just a feeling she had gotten. "Squall, I can't explain it. It's just a feeling."

__

'I suppose a feeling is better than going in blindfolded.' Squall once again picked up Rinoa and nodded. "Ok then, right it is. But before we go any farther, let me junction two GF's to you." he answered as he quickly handed over Shiva's and Carbuncle's auras to her. He then led both of them down the dark right passageway, into the unknown.

Squall took each step slowly, making sure there was not going to be any surprises that were going to come their way. And just to be sure, he casted Protect and Shell shields on the two of them – for that extra protection. Rinoa just let herself rest in Squall's arms. She knew this moment probably wouldn't come again anytime soon, so she savored every second of it as an eternal bliss. But to her dismay, they came across a small light that peered out from an exit. Squall sighed in relief as he walked toward the exit, only to be surprised at what he was looking at. 

Unknowingly, he had put Rinoa down on her own feet once again, but held onto her hand tightly enclosed in his and in his right hand was his trusted blade, the Lionheart. "I don't believe it………" was all Squall could get out from his mouth.

In Rinoa's eyes, it was a dream. They were in Edea's garden field. Somehow, in some miracle, they were right in the midst of a rainbow array of flowers than appeared to go on endlessly into a sun-setting horizon. "It's gorgeous………" Rinoa breathed out as she began to take a step forward. Squall, however, tugged her hand backwards, preventing her from taking that step. "What's wrong Squall?" she asked, still mystified by the environment they were being presented in.

"It's an illusion."

Suddenly, to Rinoa's disliking, the flower field disappeared gradually, and was replaced only by an empty dark room, where the only light that was emanating was from the bright crystal situated right smack in the center. "I should have known."

"Don't sweat it Rinoa." Squall answered back, gripping the Lionheart even tighter.

"Bravo! Bravo! At least someone here has a mind that actually works."

  
Rinoa and Squall furiously looked in all directions to see if they could see where the familiar voice was booming. "I need more light." Squall mumbled out. As if on cue, a bright flash of light temporarily blinded the couple for brief seconds, before their eyes readjusted to the given light. Squall now examined his surroundings more intently. The room was empty. Four walls enclosed the huge area – which seemed like the size of a football field – and at the far end of the room, there seemed to be some kind of door. However, in the center was a bright, clear white crystal, at least fifteen feet in size, attached to wires, which ran straight into the ceiling. "That must be our little power core." Squall whispered over to Rinoa, who just nodded, obviously still examining the surroundings.

"Wow, that makes you two for two, young SeeD warrior." the voice boomed out once again.

__

'How the hell did he hear me in that low voice!' "Ok, enough with the stupid games! Show yourself you coward!" Squall yelled out.

"Oh, come on. How could you NOT guess who I am, pathetic little SeeD warrior."

Feeling of anger was boiling up into Squall. He just wanted to kill this guy, find his friends, and escape the goddamn place. "Look, I DON'T have any time for this. Now unless you want to get me really ticked off, I suggest you show yourself!" Squall yelled out again, grasping the Lionheart even tighter than before.

"Heheheheheh………impatient, aren't we, young man? That will be your downfall. But, if you just want to speed up your death, fine by me." The room once again became shrouded in darkness as Rinoa clutched Squall's arm as hard as she could. Something about that voice was familiar, and she didn't want it to come.

Just then, the room once again returned to its original lightened state, with the majority of the light emanating from the power core. But instead of an empty room, this time the couple was joined by a lone figure, standing at the far end of the chamber. Squall squinted his eyes, trying to see the creature that was standing at there, and then it hit him as his eyes widened his shock, fear, and horror. "Dragoon………" he breathed out. 

Dragoon disappeared from the current position he was in with a blink of an eye and reappeared, only ten feet about from Squall and Rinoa. "Well, that makes you three for three!" he said with an evil laugh. When Squall and Rinoa didn't give any reaction, he silenced himself down as he stared tenaciously at the two young adults in front of him. It was then that he noticed Rinoa, hiding behind Squall, clutching to his arm, and peeking out from behind her love, wanting to know what was happening. "Sapphire, my love! I thought you were gone, but here you are, alas, with this pathetic little human. I still offer you……..."

"Shutup!!!" Squall interrupted Dragoon with protest. "Don't even think about it!" he sneered out in utmost hatred as he pointed his sword toward the enemy.

Dragoon shrugged and grinned. "Well, if you want her to die, then I'll happily oblige."

"The only one whose going down is YOU, you bastard!" Squall retaliated. 

The evil emperor yawned. "Yeah yeah, I've heard it all before, but as of today, no one has backed up that claim, and I really don't expect an eighteen year old human to do any better. So, why waste time, let's see what you can actually do."

"Squall………" Rinoa began. "I'm fighting with you, and I'm not taking no for an answer." she said stubbornly as she prepared her magic and blaster edge.

He knew arguing with her right now was not going to get him anywhere. When she had that tone, she never did take no for an answer. "Fine, but stay close to me at ALL times!" he emphasized.

"Don't I always?" she answered back in a sweet, angelic voice. She released Squall's arm and entered her battle stance, staying right next to her knight.

"Ohh, how touching." Dragoon uttered sarcastically. "Now, before I let you even have the privilege of challenging me, let's see if you can withstand my strongest Guardian Force………"

"He has a GF!?" both Squall and Rinoa exclaimed at once in shock.

"………TIAMAT! I command you to take out these worthless excuses of life forms!" With that, the ceiling above the three figures suddenly cracked open, causing major parts of it to fall down upon them. Dragoon instantly disappeared and reappeared everywhere, dodging the pieces of stone easily. Squall reacted quickly, grabbing Rinoa's hand and running to the nearest corner, huddling together. He then casted two Protect shields once again over them and blasted any flying rocks with his fire magic. 

However, that was just the least of their worries, as suddenly a huge shadow had completely darkened up the entire room. A huge dragon, at least twenty-five feet high – to Squall's calculations – descended into the battle room, taking up much of the space. Its golden horns protruded out from the side of its head, and its long red tail ended with a huge glowing flame. The wings of the dragon flapped slowly, causing great winds everywhere, radically blowing Squall's and Rinoa's unruly hair. The couple clung on to each other, and looked in amazement and fear as the red dragon known as Tiamat had finally landed in the room. It gave a deafening roar as flame flowed out of its mouth and into the air.

-----*****-----

"What the hell was that?" Zell asked.

"I don't know, but it seems to be coming from the right." Irvine deduced. "Should we follow it?"

"Right now, that's our only clue, so let's go!"

-----*****-----

A young, brunette girl awoke suddenly with the roar of Tiamat. She looked around and saw her fallen friend. "Quistis! Quistis! Wake up!" she yelled at her.

The instructor woke up groggily and in a matter of seconds, finally came to her senses as she heard the roar. "What was that?" she asked curiously.

"I don't know………" Selphie replied. "But it sounds like its coming from the other side of this door!!" she said as she banged the door with all her might. 

"Move aside." Quistis ordered as she placed a small explosive near the door. And in the few seconds, the bomb exploded, only to have no effect on the door. "Damn………" she murmured.

"Look out the window!" Selphie pointed excitedly.

Quistis walked up to the small window and saw a miracle. "The Ragnorak! Yes, this means we still have a chance. Let's go!"

"But what about the others?" Selphie pouted.

"Once we get this airship up and running, we can blast into this stupid castle and find the others. Plus, I have a feeling they'll come to us in time." Quistis said, all the while placing her last explosive at the wall, completely annihilating the structure to rubble. They made their way out of the castle and used a Float spell to gently glide their way down to the ground.

-----*****-----

"Rinoa! Watch out!" Squall yelled as he stepped in front of her, taking the flame attack that was sent out by Tiamat, all to himself, and consequently, falling to the ground instantly.

"Sqqquaaallll!"

"Hahaha………how pathetic. Dragoon began. "………Risking his own life for a weak little girl………" 

However, Dragoon's words did not reach Rinoa's ears, as she dropped down and cradled a fallen Squall in her lap. "Please………Squall……….say something………" she whispered out, already uncontrollably crying once again.

Tiamat set out another deafening roar as it stepped up in front of Rinoa and Squall. Twisting its mouth upward, it gave out an ugly smirk and suddenly opened its mouth for one final flame attack. As it began to gain the energy for its attack, it was suddenly hit by an ice blast on its back, causing Tiamat to turn around and look for the attacker, only to see one overly active SeeD, waving his golden fists in the air.

"Come and get me you little bitch." Zell spat out, shaking his ass at him. "Watcha waiting for?"

This caught Tiamat's attention, and as he was about to rush towards Zell, Tiamat was hit by another ice attack, and this time, his eyes showed him a cowboy. 

"Irvine here to help." he said, grinning. 

Rinoa looked up and smiled her shining smile. She couldn't find the words on how much she was glad to see them, her friends. Her attention then immediately turned to her lap, where Squall finally began to stir a bit, and in a matter of another couple seconds, finally arose. "Finally………" Rinoa sobbed out as she hugged her knight as hard as possible, never wanting to let go. Squall returned the hug, but quickly broke it up when he saw Zell and Irvine running around Tiamat, trying to distract its attention from the couple. 

"Forget about them!!" roared Dragoon. "Kill the girl and the guy with the sword!!" he commanded further.

With red, ruby, glaring eyes, the monster glared at Squall and Rinoa and unleashed a powerful flame towards them. Rinoa hung onto Squall desperately, burying her face into his arm, afraid to see the outcome. Squall's eyes flared up as the flame ran right through them.

"NOOOOO!" Zell and Irvine yelled out, as both of them dropped to their knees with tearful eyes, watching helplessly as their two friends became incinerated right in front of their eyes.


	11. Fire with Fire

****

Chapter 11 – Fire with Fire

"Damn! The controls are not responding!"

Another monster went down with the crack of a whip. "Are you sure you have tried everything?" a girl asked as she lashed out her whip again at another enemy.

  
"YES!" the brunette answered back, still feverishly pushing down any buttons within her sight.

An ice spell was blasted out from the owner of the whip at a monster, which consequently, diminished as soon as it was hit. "Well, it looks like we won't be going out of this ship anytime soon! There are just too many monsters!"

At this time, Selphie joined in with Quistis in helping taking out the monsters. "How about the Guardian Forces?"

"Selphie, there is not enough room in here to summon them. If we do, the Ragnorak will probably bust open." Quistis answered as she casted another Blizzaga at the enemies. '_Squall, wherever you are, get the hell over here, NOW!'_ she quickly thought in her mind.

-----*****----

Tiamat sneered out smoked as he grinned widely, watching his flame sizzle right through Squall and Rinoa. "Heheheh………I guess that was easier than I thought!" Dragoon stated, giving a loud, overconfident laugh afterwards. "The Commander of the SeeD and the all-powerful Sorceress Rinoa are taken out by a light flame, and here I thought he said I was going down. HAHAHahahaha…." Dragoon's speech was cut short at the sight of what the smoke revealed.

Rinoa still clutched onto Squall. She could have sworn they had become incinerated when she felt intense heat surrounding them. As she lifted up her head from her lover's arm, she noticed that they were still very much alive. It was then that she noticed a small barrier around them. "Squall………" was the only reply she could breath out, still very much in shock and relief.

Irvine and Zell immediately turned their eyes toward the couple in the shield. Both of them couldn't believe their eyes. They were very much alive, but what amazed them the most was the shield surrounding them. "I don't believe it………he has mastered it." Zell squeaked out to Irvine who was still dumbfounded by the whole event.

The shield slowly dissipated as Squall lowered his arm. His eyes slowly turned back to the icy, baby blue from the deep, oceanic color just a second ago. "Aquas Shield………hard to master, but once did – can be pretty helpful at times." He smirked at Dragoon, whose jaw was hanging as far down as it was allowed to. Squall then turned to Rinoa, who was looking at him deeply with her brown eyes. He smiled to her as he reassuringly, caressed her cheek, and then turned his attention back to Tiamat.

Rinoa let tears fall from her face at the affectionate touch from Squall. She couldn't express how much she loved him – the way he always looked out for her; the way he always protected her. It made her think what in the world had she done to deserve a guy like this, but one thing was already made up in her mind, she would **never** let go of him. She then turned her attention back to Tiamat as well. "What are we going to do Squall? He's just to powerful, even with your shield protecting us." she whispered to him. The only response she received was a nod of his head, and right then and there, Rinoa knew they were going to be fine. 

__

'How the HELL did he survive Tiamat's ultimate attack!' Dragoon slowly thought out in his mind. _'It's just fucking impossible. I see NO way in hell.'_ he concluded. He found Squall looking menacingly over at him, like daggers piercing through his eyes. The general finally regained his composure. "I must admit at your prodigious tenacity, young SeeD, but that shield won't last forever." Dragoon then raised his arm, "Tiamat! Keep on ATTACKING them!!" he commanded.

Just as Tiamat was about to unleash another powerful flame attack, Squall immediately lifted up his arm again. This caused Tiamat to pause momentarily, curious of what he was going to do. Dragoon also eyed him peculiarly. Squall, however, let a small grin escape his lips. "It's time to fight fire with fire."

Rinoa looked up at him again, and immediately she knew what was going to happen. She smiled; her hopes had once again risen. 

"BAHAMUT! It's time to come out!" Squall roared out, summoning his favorite Guardian Force.

At once, the foundations of the room started to shake violently, and the only way for Tiamat to keep himself from falling onto the ground was by taking to the air, while dodging the remaining pieces of the ceiling above them. Dragoon scowled as he kept on teleporting from place to place, also dodging the rocks. However, Squall, Rinoa, Zell and Irvine did not need to move an inch, due to the fact that all the debris was conveniently avoiding them.

Then it came: a roar as deafening as Tiamat's, but to the SeeD's ears, it was a reassuring sound – a sound of hope. The sky above them darkened to an unusual eerie blue as a small spec could be seen emerging from the pool above. The small spec soon grew larger, till it eventually challenged the size of Tiamat. The spec was not a spec anymore, but a fierce dragon of a dull silver coloring to his skin. The dragon spanned out its wings, stretching them out completely, taking advantage of the immense room that was available to him. 

Finally, the eyelids opened up, revealing deep, yellow gazing eyes as they wandered all over the place. The surroundings were very familiar to him, knowing the fact that he resided in space, before taking refuge in the underwater laboratory, where Squall captured him. It was then that he took notice of Squall and Rinoa. His eyes at once turned into rage for Squall's opponent. Never in his life had he seen his master………his friend………as Squall would put it, in such a bad shape then now. And to make his case even worse, Rinoa was not looking all that well either. Bahamut finally turned his gaze towards the opposite direction, and what his eyes showed him shocked him for a split second – a second too long, for Tiamat noticed it. 

"So………we meet again, Bahamut." Tiamat sneered out in an arrogant roar that only Bahamut knew how to decipher. 

Bahamut immediately regained his fierce composure. This fight would be much more than what he had anticipated it to be. Not only was he going to avenge his master's condition, but also, now, it was personal. "Taking refuge behind a bastard, I see." the silver dragon roared back, as he quickly eyed Dragoon.

"If MY master is a bastard, then that could only mean your master is a bitch, for the way he latches onto that pitiful girl in blue." the red dragon causally roared back in his arrogance.

Bahamut's eyes flared up instantly at the insult and loudly roared, "You may insult me as much as you want Tiamat, but NEVER, and I repeat, NEVER say anything about my master or his friends for that matter too!" 

Tiamat grinned devilishly as he stared at the couple behind Bahamut. "Well, let's get this party started, shall we?" he asked mockingly as he unleashed a huge flame directed towards Squall and Rinoa. 

Bahamut quickly caught on and took the flame head on, almost receiving not damage whatsoever. "That tickled."

"WHY YOU…………!" Tiamat roared out angrily as he flew towards Bahamut at great speed, only to find himself being twirled around by his tail and quickly thrown into the sky. It wasn't till after precious seconds had passed when Tiamat realized where he was going. He finally stopped his trajectory, and found himself flying over the castle. He quickly looked down, hoping to find Bahamut off-guard, but instead, only found a mocking voice behind him.

"Well, as you put it, let's get this party started."

-----*****-----

The lone-wolf warrior looked towards the sky as he watched Bahamut take on his formal rival. A part of him was glad that Bahamut actually wanted to fight. In previous encounters with random battles, Bahamut, even though they were friends, still did not respond to his summons against weak monsters, in his view. But, that was all past, and now he was here to help. It was then we he noticed his left hand had no feeling – no blood was circulating to it – and noticed a shivering Rinoa looking up to the sky as well. As he gazed at her face, he noticed her eyes also held a glimmer of hope as Bahamut easily, or so it seemed, fought Tiamat. Squall smiled as he quickly shook Rinoa, bringing her back to reality. She blushed as she loosened her grip on her love's arm, but by no means did she let go. 

"Yo! Squall! Hurry, now is our chance to get the hell out of this hellhole." a voice called from afar.

Before he budged, Squall quickly darted his eyes from place to place, trying to find where Dragoon was hiding. To his surprise, he did not spot the ruthless king anywhere.

He then looked up, only to see his two best friends signaling him to get his ass over there. Giving them a nod that he understood, Squall quickly tugged on Rinoa, and both of them ran over to the far side of the room, where he finally met up with Zell and Irvine.

"Hey……guys……sorry to……keep……you……waiting…." Squall managed to say between breaths. Rinoa looked upon his face, as did Zell and Irvine – it was obvious that Squall had gone through a lot the past couple of days, and it was really taking the toll on him. But all three of them knew better than to try and tell him otherwise, for it was not the time, and they needed their leader. 

"Hey, Squall, its no problem." Zell said as he waved his hand, not making a huge deal out of it "We're just glad you're safe."

"And it's always a pleasure to see you well, Rinoa." Irvine pointed out as he gracefully bowed down to the angel. Rinoa couldn't help but to let a small giggle escape from her mouth. _'Irvine………you always know how to charm a woman. But Squall is everything to me.'_ she silently claimed in her mind as she turned her gaze toward her knight, who was breathing heavily, obviously very tired.

"Selphie, Quistis, where are they?" Squall quickly asked.

Zell and Irvine quickly turned their cheerful looks into despair. "We don't know." the martial-artist replied in a dry manner. Squall looked shocked, but quickly retreated to his mind, contemplating on their next move. Rinoa took the time to look over to Irvine. She knew he took a special liking to Selphie, despite the fact he flirted with almost every girl in sight. Rinoa felt sympathy for her cowboy friend, but somewhere in her heart, she knew they were still alive and well.

__

'There is just too much to do and too little time.' the commander began thinking. _'It's obvious our first priority is to find Quistis and Selphie, but I don't know where to start, and we're running out of time. Dragoon is probably getting his army ready this very moment………'_ It was then when Squall turned his attention to the power core. He had completely forgotten about it. It was the center of this whole adventure in the first place. Suddenly, a wave of energy flowed through Squall. He reluctantly shoved off Rinoa's grasp upon his arm and held the Lionheart, his trust blade, in both hands. "Guys, I'm going in." he calmly stated as he ran towards the bright crystal in the middle of the room.

"Sqquuaall! We don't know the side-effects of………." It was too late for Zell's reasoning. For as soon as he started to speak, the shining, baby blue blade had already pierced through the precious, illuminating crystal. 

As the blade struck the crystal, a loud, glass-breaking sound was heard as the crystal shattered to pieces right in front of stormy, blue eyes. The lone wolf looked upon the damaged remains of a once beautiful item to lay eyes upon. As he started to breathe heavily once again, a long, uncanny silence followed. Nobody dared to talk, for everyone thought destroying the crystal was far too easy, if that was all it took.

After a very long five minutes, Squall started to retreat back to the others, never taking his eyes away from the shattered remains spread all over the floor. _'That was too easy……'_ he said to himself. Just then, the foundations of the room once again started to shake, but this time very violently. _'Shit, me and my cursed thought!'_ he added as he grabbed Rinoa's hand and motioned for Zell and Irvine to follow him.

They ran the whole length of the room once again, and came up to the only door that was still standing. "Watch out! I'm breaking in!" Zell yelled as he rammed his shoulder into the door a few times in no avail. Irvine then joined in as they rammed together. Behind them, the room was collapsing in on them quickly, and Squall estimated they hand only half a minute left before they were gone. He then looked at Zell and Irvine. They were clearly making now progress.

"Move aside!" Rinoa yelled. "We don't have time for this!" In a blinding instant, a huge green aura emerged from Rinoa as she waved her hand in the air, using the strongest magic spell around, Ultima. As the three men stepped back, Rinoa casted her spell and in the same second, the door, plus half of the adjoining wall, was blown apart. "There." she smiled happily as she walked into the room. 

The other three SeeDs stared in disbelief as Rinoa took out the wall with a simple flick of the wrist. "I guess she still has some side effects of her lost sorceress powers." Squall presumed to the others as he followed Rinoa, soon joined by the Zell and Irvine.

The four of them walked quickly into the new area and took a look around the room. It was completely barren, with no decorations, whatsoever. But what amazed them the most was that the far wall of the new room was already blown apart. Rinoa slowly approached it, only to have her eyes widened in shock. "LOOK! Isn't that the Ragnorak?" 

Squall came running over and peered down. "Yeah, that's it." he reassured her as he took out his binoculars. To his surprise, he also saw something else. "Hey, guys. There are monsters flowing endlessly into the ship. What in the world could be going on down there?" he asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer.

Irvine casually came over and looked down as well. He whistled, "That's a long drop. Must be at least eight stories below us." As he began to ponder Squall's question, it had suddenly dawned upon him. "Selphie must be in there!" 

"And Quistis too!" Zell added, coming over to join the group at the edge.

"Shit, how the hell are we going to get down there in time?" Irvine anxiously questioned.

The Commander crossed his arms and looked off into the distance. _'Shit, there must be something that we haven't thought of……' _he silently asked himself. _'……but what?'_

As if on cue, Rinoa pitched in, "Float!"

Squall smiled at his angel as he nodded with acceptance at the idea. He quickly checked himself to see if he had any floats left in stock. "I've got only three………and there are four of us." he replied dryly, contemplating on how they would avoid this problem.

"Damn, I don't have any." Zell and Irvine claimed at the same time.

He then turned back to Rinoa, who also shook her head, signaling she didn't have any of the spell either on herself. Squall sighed in defeat as he headed over to Rinoa and quickly picked her up in his arms, shocking everyone in the room, especially the girl in his arms. He blushed deep crimson as he quickly turned his head from Rinoa, who started giggling uncontrollably at his embarrassment. "I have no other choice." he scowled out to Zell and Irvine, who both wore huge grins on their respective faces.

Rinoa clung onto Squall happily, taking the advantage of showing her love publicly to her two friends as she kissed him on the cheek. As she expected, Squall blushed even deeper in color, but quickly dismissed it as his visage turned serious. "Triple-Float!" he yelled out. Soon enough, a pinkish bubble surrounded each Zell and Irvine, and the couple as well.

"Let's go guys!" Squall commanded as he took the lead by jumping down with Rinoa in his arms. The float bubble slow downed the fall of the SeeDs as they plunged to the moon's surface. Zell and Irvine followed afterwards, hesitantly, but soon their fears were washed away as they flowed down to the ground gently.

The four of them landed onto the surface with a thud as the float bubble quickly dissipated into nothing. Squall then put Rinoa on her own two feet once again, but she still clung onto her love's arm, in fear for her two friends in the Ragnorak. 

Squall looked back up to the castle, and noticed that the top half was already shaking furiously, with pieces of the huge building starting to fall down. He calculated that it would not take too long for the whole place to crumble down. _'I guess the power crystal was the whole center of everything.'_

"What the hell are we waiting for!?" Irvine asked angrily as he loaded up his rifle and began to storm of to the airship.

"Hold on!" Squall called after him.

"What?! Can't you see Selphie could die ANY minute?" he returned bitterly.

Squall grabbed onto Irvine's shoulder and shook him, trying to get his mind back to reality. "Look Irvine. There are just WAY too many monsters surrounding the airship. Even with your rage fueling your attack, we'll die by the sheer number of monsters. Summon Quezacoatl. He'll be able to take out the majority of the monsters surrounding the ship."

The cowboy eyed his friend angrily, but then looked down to the ground with bitter remorse. "I can't………"

The answer surprised Squall. "What in the world do you mean you can't?" he asked back with a small hint of anger.

"He's dead."

Squall's eyes rose in shock as he slowly absorbed what the six-foot guy said. He then turned to Zell. "Alexander! Quickly Zell!"

Zell looked down to the ground in the same manner as Irvine. "I can't also……"

By now, Squall's head was spinning. _'Shit!! We lost three of our Guardian Forces up here, including Ifrit!'_ he cursed in his mind. 

By this time, Rinoa stepped forward. "Squall, you forget that you passed Shiva over to me." Without waiting for a reply, she quickly lifted up her arms. "SHIVA!"

Squall was about to protest, but it was already too late. The ground had already split into two as a huge block of ice came storming out from it, encasing the ice goddess, Shiva. With the blink of an eye, the whole block shattered, leaving Shiva floating in the air. The goddess looked back to her mistress, and noticed she was pointing in the other direction. Shiva followed her gaze and came upon the airship and the monsters surrounding them. A small grin escaped her lips. "This is going to be fun." she muttered out as she lifted her hands in the air. "Diamond Dust!"

Almost immediately, what seemed like tens of thousands of ice spears, had formed from thin air right in front of Shiva and with the flick of her wrist, they were speeding towards every monster in sight. Each ice spear pierced each monster's chest with acute precision, not having any mercy, whatsoever. After loud cries, the monsters slowly died out, leaving the ship safe from any outside intruders for the moment. 

Giving another small grin, Shiva quickly bowed to her mistress, and knowing her job done, retreated back to her haven. 

Rinoa smiled and walked back to Squall's side. "Well, that went pretty well." 

All the knight could muster was a slight nod of his head, obviously very amazed that Shiva had that kind of power. _'I'll keep that in mind for next time.'_ he reminded himself quietly. 

"Now I'm going Squall, and YOU'RE not stopping me!" Irvine lashed out as he charged towards the airship, with Zell following close behind. Rinoa was already beginning to tug on his arm, motioning him to hurry it up. However, Squall took his time to look up into the air again, in search for Bahamut. What he saw were the two dragons dueling it out to the extreme, with no side having a clear-cut advantage. "Good luck my **friend**." he whispered softly and then finally gave into Rinoa's pull as he ran along side with her towards the airship.


	12. I Love You

****

Chapter 12 – I Love You

The two girls in the airship were exhausted totally. "I think that makes, what two hundred in an hour?" Selphie asked, as she whipped out her nunchaku out at yet, another monster.

The crack of a whip followed the lash of the nunchaku. "Well, than that makes two hundred and one." her friend replied in a dry tone, also with fatigue bearing over her.

Selphie, seeing that at the time, no more monsters were emerging from the door, collapsed into the nearby chair of the control room and laid her weapon on her lap. "You know Quistis. I never thought it would end like………….like this. Us defending a useless airship against a huge horde of monsters." she replied with a small chuckle, trying to lighten up the atmosphere. 

Quistis gave a low chuckle as she too, departed for the nearest seat available. "I'm not giving up hope Selph. So I'll take your comment as a result of your fatigue!" 

Both girls stared at each other for a minute before laughing quietly. After the few seconds of laughter, it was drowned out by a ghostly quietness of fallen hope. Never in their lives had they given up hope on anything. As much as they protested it in their minds, their gut feeling told otherwise…………that it was all over. It was at that instant when they heard a shuffle of footsteps in the distance. At first, they ignored it, hoping the monsters would leave, but it soon grew louder, and it seemed to keep getting closer to them. 

Quistis adjusted her glasses and gave her usual spunky friend a weak smile. "Your turn………"

Selphie slowly got up and hid behind a corner, ready to ambush whatever was coming their way. Quistis, likewise, hid in the other corner that was adjacent to the door. The footsteps were coming ever so closer, and for a minute, Selphie could have sworn she heard Irvine calling out her name. Shaking her head, thinking it was only her imagination, she realized that the footsteps had taken the last turn. 

"Here goes nothing…………." she whispered. The moment she saw the shadow, she lunged towards whatever the creature may have been. "If I'm going down, your coming with me!" she yelled out as she let loose her nunchaku at the owner of the shadow, hitting it with uncanny precision in the creature's gut. "Got ya! Booyaka!"

"Owww…………." the creature moaned out. "Sefie, be more careful where your throwing stuff, why don't you."

"IRVY!" she screamed in delight as she came running out of the room, only to set her eyes on the fallen cowboy, who was holding his stomach in pain. "IT'S REALLY YOU!!!!!" she squealed as she fell quickly into the strongest embrace she could give to her cowboy, raining kisses all over his face.

Quistis looked surprised when she saw Selphie rushing out of the control room, but when she glanced upon what her friend was holding, she couldn't hold back her tears any longer. Just when she was going to say something, somebody came crashing into her side, knocking both her and her assailant to the floor. 

"Oww, who was that?" Quistis groaned as she readjusted her glasses, only to find Zell on top of her. She blushed, but quickly turned her head, trying to hide that fact. 

The martial-artist on the other hand had more trouble hiding his embarrassment and quickly helped the instructor to her feet. "Ahh, sorry about that Quistis. Guess I wasn't paying much attention there, huh." he achieved to say as he scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to do next.

However, he soon carried the weight of his friend on himself as Quistis quickly embraced Zell as well. "It's ok Zell. I'm just glad to see a friendly face other than Selphie's." the instructor sobbed out. 

Zell felt a bit confused, but threw his inhibitions out the window as he returned a friendly hug towards his friend, rubbing her back and trying to reassure her that everything would be ok.

After a couple of minutes of quiet happiness, the four of them walked back into the control room, where Selphie explained to Zell and Irvine the current predicament of the Ragnorak. 

"………So you see, these freakin' buttons just aren't working!" exclaimed an energetic Selphie, who seemed to gain renewed confidence with Irvine and Zell around. 

Both Irvine and Zell looked around the control panel, and like Selphie before, pressed any button within sight, hoping for some kind of response from the silent airship. After a minute however, both of them held their heads low, accepting the defeat that was inevitable. 

Selphie groaned, "Now what are we going to do?" she asked as she plumped herself down on a seat. 

"Hey, you guys know where Squall is?" Quistis asked suddenly, wondering where he was.

  
Zell and Irvine looked totally surprised. "I thought he was right behind us; he was a minute ago." Zell pointed out to Irvine, who nodded his head at the statement. 

Right then, more footsteps could be heard in the distance, and what seemed like a quarrel between an old married couple. Zell and Irvine smiled, knowing who those could only be.

"You **better** think of a name Squall!" a feminine voice, that Quistis could have sworn, belonged to Rinoa.

  
"Yeah yeah, whatever." the second voice replied in his usual manner, which was unmistakably Squall's. 

They then turned the last corner and finally, after what seemed like ages to the four already in the control room, the two people entered the room, and instantly stopped their quarrelling. Selphie had already lunged herself towards Rinoa in a tight embrace, and quickly did the same to Squall, nearly killing him in the process. Quistis smiled as she took a more formal approach, but didn't hide her emotions though. 

"I see you were able to rescue Rinoa, Squall." Selphie beamed happily.

Squall smiled. "Yeah, don't worry about it. Rinny's fine."

"Rinny?" both Selphie and Quistis questioned amusingly, and broke out in a small giggle along with Rinoa.

Squall blushed crimson red, and instantly found interest at the wall, desperately trying to hide his beat, red face.

"Say, what were you guys arguing about just a minute ago?" Quistis asked.

Squall instantly tensed up. _'I don't want to let these guys know Rinoa's pregnant…………well, not just yet anyways.'_ he rationalized in his mind. 

Rinoa seemed to pick up on this uncertainty look upon Squall's face. "Oh, it's nothing. I just wanted Squall to Angelo's babies, if my dog ever had any."

Both Selphie and Quistis frowned, not totally buying the story, but decided not to further pursue the subject, for the fact they had more pressing matters at hand. Selphie quickly relayed the details of the Ragnorak to Squall, who instantly went up to the control panel. After eyeing it for a minute, he bent down and opened a panel, which hid a red button. "Did you guys try pressing this? It's the 'restart' button." he emphasized as he quickly pressed the small button. 

The control panel instantly lit up, and before the other five people knew it, the whole ship was energized. With the exception of Rinoa and Squall, everybody looked in shock at the revived airship. "…………How?" Zell managed to ask.

Both Rinoa and Squall stared at each for a minute. They knew why, for when they were stranded in space, they had gone through the same ordeal, plus even a little more. They both smiled. "Let's just call it intuition for now." Squall calmly explained. 

The other four still looked puzzled, but did not continue the conversation any further. They all looked upon Squall as he worked the control panel quickly, but accurately, to Selphie's eyes. However, something caught the commander's attention: a flashing red button at the top. Pausing only for a moment, he pushed it down:

__

"Incoming message from the Lunar Base…………………………."

"Heeeey! I think they are relaying a message to us." Zell exclaimed. The other five just rolled their eyes, and continued to listen.

__

"Squall! This is Ellone. Look, I don't have much time to tell you everything, because Odine is hot on my tail – he doesn't want me to send out this message. But I must. After we found out that your spaceship exploded, Odine went nuts and decided to send the remaining five Ragnoraks we have on Earth to the Moon – filled with explosives – to blow up the Moon!!! They are due to arrive at 2300 hours on April 15th. If you guys are alive – PLEASE – get out of there, ASAP. Hurry you guys. I miss all of you soooooo much. I just want all of you alive. 

Oh Hyne, I think Odine is coming. I have to go. I love you all! Ellone, out!"

The six of them stood dumbfounded at the message. They played it once again to make sure they had their facts straight. Selphie and Zell bit their lips nervously and Quistis paced around the small room. Irvine leaned against the wall and he tipped his hat over his eyes, obviously in deep thought. Rinoa looked up to Squall, who had been staring at the same button for the past five minutes. She took his hands in hers, and intertwined their fingers together. This caught Squall's attention as he looked upon his angel. He gave a weak smile before he collasped onto the nearest seat. Rinoa gently sat upon his lap and rested her head against his chest, sighing deeply. Squall gently ran his hand through Rinoa's hair, as he closed his eyes.

"Guys…………" the cowboy muttered out of nowhere. "April 15th is today, and we have only one more hour left before those airships reach the moon." he stated as he pointed to the clock on the Ragnorak. Everybody, with the exception of Squall, looked towards the clock, and unfortunately, found Irvine's information to be correct. Everyone wore solemn facades on their respective faces, again, with the exception of Squall, who still had his eyes closed. By now, everybody turned towards Squall, hoping that he would think of someway to get out of this mess.

"Squall…………" Rinoa whispered. "Please, we all need your help………………… especially me." she pleaded silently into his ear. 

The commander, at this time gave a low sigh as he simply nodded his head. He motioned for Rinoa to get off of his lap, and as soon as she did, he quietly walked towards the control panel, immediately immersing himself with the buttons and switches. 

The rest of the gang silently waited for the commander to do whatever he had in mind, and with no doubt, they knew it was going to work. It always did, and they had complete trust in him.

He pressed random buttons, but however, he knew what he was doing. _'This is for the best………I'm sure of it." _he silently rationalized to himself_. 'I must do what I am about to do, because I am pretty sure that the others won't leave me behind, and I am not leaving without Bahamut. This might hurt with me physically, but I am more worried about…………………………her.'_ At this, Squall stole a glance at his angel, and found her to have a look of relief on her face: a face that he would etch permanently in his mind. He smiled weakly, and then went back to his thoughts. _'Yes, this is for the best.'_

Finally, after another five minutes had gone by, Squall was done. He then turned around to face the others. He breathed in heavily, "Ok guys. I've managed to set the course for Earth on the Ragnorak. Once we push that button…………." he said as he pointed to a green colored object on the panel, "…………we leave for Earth."

The others wore happy expressions upon their faces, but Squall still had his usual stern, gloomy look upon his. "You guys, we still have to get Bahamut. Zell, Irvine, you guys are coming with me to help out Bahamut so we can leave. Quistis, Selphie, and Rinoa – under NO conditions do I want any of you to leave this airship. Understood! We can't let this airship fall into enemy hands." he commanded profoundly, but the three girls knew all Squall cared about was their well being. Rinoa however, stood up with a pout and walked over to Squall.

"But Squall………"

"Rinoa – NO! That is my answer." he sternly defended himself. The lion-hearted then leaned over closely to his angel, whispering in her ear, "And plus, I don't want you **and** Karito get hurt. Am I right?" he questioned lovingly as he slowly caressed her cheek.

His angel looked into her knight's eyes with confusion. "Kari?"

Squall merely smiled as he lightly kissed her lips. "Yeah, Kari. That's **IF** the baby is a girl."

Rinoa, out of the blue, wore a blinding smile as she gave Squall a tight hug. "Why Kari?" she couldn't help but to ask.

He knew this question was going to come, but he did not have a logical answer for it, at least a short one anyway. "Well, uh, I actually don't know why I picked that name. It just sounds………fitting if you know what I mean. Squall paused for a minute, just letting himself become absorbed with her touch. "Now, promise me that you're going to stay here."

She loved that name, even if Squall didn't have a reasonable explanation. It sounded just perfect to her ears. Rinoa looked up to her love with tearful eyes, and slowly nodded in acceptance. But before he could leave, Rinoa had locked Squall into a hot, passionate kiss, as she fiercely explored everything she was allowed to. At first, Squall tried to resist, but found himself returning the kiss just as feverishly. Their tongues intertwined each other's as everything around them was gone – the only thing that each person was focusing on was the love in front of them.

The kiss, nonetheless, still ended too soon for each person's liking. Squall started to leave then, but once again Rinoa stopped him from doing so. This time, she took of her black ribbon that she always wore on her left arm and tied it quickly around Squall's wrist. He, however, looked totally confused on why she was doing this. Rinoa simply smiled. "This ribbon – my mother gave it to me. And I'm just giving it to you for good luck, and I want it back. So you better not go dying off, or else!" she commanded mockingly, all the while in tears.

Squall smiled, and nodded slowly. Rinoa was about to kiss him again, but Squall had already walked away, giving her a strong smile that everything was going to work out for the best. But in some twisted way, Rinoa felt otherwise, as tears ran down her beautiful face. 

Quistis and Selphie just stood there, very confused of what just happened between the couple.

-----*****-----

A figure staggered its way among the debris of the castle, alongside his general. As they both clutched their injured bodies as best as possible, they witnessed the destruction of their once invincible empire. Everything was raining down upon them, giving them no hope of world domination. The figure had a broken arm along with many scars and scratches among his bloody body. However, the first figure looked completely fine. 

  
"Dragoon…………help…………me" the injured figure breathed out as it finally collasped to the ground.

The evil general laughed arrogantly. "I'm ashamed even to be talking to you Raven. You showed promising qualities that I previously thought were worthy of being second in command. Yet, you have failed in every aspect when the time counts. You deserve to die." he grunted out as he used his powers to lift up the injured body. "Farewell, you piece of shit!" And with that, Dragoon threw Raven into the dark abyss, only known as space.

Smirking at the job done, he turned his attention towards the sky, where his Guardian Force was still fiercely in battle with Bahamut. "Tiamat – he's even worthless too. He should have killed that weak dragon a long time ago." Dragoon rolled his eyes. "I have incompetence surrounding me all the time."

Dragoon finally sat down to cogitate on the recent events. "My army – perished. My powers – not yet **fully** in my control. Can I even do anything? Yes I can. I can KILL the one responsible for this – that fucking SeeD!"

-----*****-----

"Irvine, I'm counting on you to keep track of time. We have less than fifty minutes, and I do not want to spend more than thirty. So keep on reminding me how much time we have left." the commander ordered.

"Gotcha!" the cowboy replied, configuring his watch accordingly.

"Zell, I want you to be the cover guy. Basically, you'll be covering Irvine and me, if necessary." the commander once again said.

"You bet ya!" Zell answered back, punching the air with his fists, anxiously awaiting battle.

Squall eyes flared up as he unsheathed his gunblade from the hilt of his belt. There were only two things on his mind at the moment, with Rinoa being the second. The first – escaping alive with Bahamut. As the three of them raced onto the battlefield, they fought the remaining monsters of the army, and found out that they were not as tough as they were supposed to be. 

Finally, what seemed like ages, they reached the outskirts of the battlefield where Bahamut and Tiamat were having their grueling battle, as if to the death. The three comrades looked up, and found that neither dragon looked as if they were backing down. However, the edge seemed to be on Bahamut's sides as Tiamat's last few attacks seemed a bit sluggish than before.

"We got forty minutes left." Irvine blatantly commented.

"Ok, no more time to waste. Now is our chance!" yelled Squall as he ran headfirst into the battlefield. 

  
"YO Squall! Wait up!" Zell and Irvine called out desperately trying to keep up with their commander.

Just as Squall was about to leap into the air, a huge force knocked into his left side, causing him to fly into that direction, landing on the ground with a huge thud. "Shit, what the hell was that?" murmured Squall to no one in particular.

As he slowly began to regain his sense of sight, he noticed that Zell and Irvine were nowhere in sight. Looking around, he found that, as if from nowhere, at least fifty or so monsters surrounded his two friends. Grabbing his gunblade from the floor, he began running towards them when a deep laugh stopped him in his tracks. "That laugh could only belong to one person………" Squall hissed out, cursing inwardly to himself for being foolish enough for forgetting the main enemy.

His cold blue eyes darted 360 degrees as well as high and low as he gave out an exasperated sigh when he couldn't find him. "Just show your damned self, coward." he once again hissed under his breath.

"Right over here!" Dragoon yelled as he sent yet another powerful wind blast into Squall's left side, sending him further away from his friends than before. This time, Squall took more time in getting up, but still very far from a serious injury. As his senses slowly came back to him, Squall found himself looking straight at Dragoon, a distance of about ten meters of separation between them, according to Squall's quick judgement.

"Well, I'm surprised you actually survived not one, but two of my wind blasts." Dragoon sneered. "Usually they knock out weaklings in one blow, just like I did to your little girlfriend when I abducted her." 

Squall instantly unleashed a huge Meltdown spell towards Dragoon – a spell that contained all this anger towards him. He was beyond rage, to a point where few could return to sanity. 

The evil king snickered as he quickly teleported out of the spell's away and reappeared behind Squall, giving him a huge knee in the back to which the lone-wolf instantly collapsed down in pain. The meltdown spell instantly incinerated the twenty or so monsters in its path, stopping short of where Zell and Irvine were helplessly fending themselves.

"C'mon wretched SeeD. I was hoping for some sort of challenge I might say." taunted Dragoon.

Squall readjusted his sweaty grip on his gunblade as he wiped his hand on his pants. He then took his sword into his right hand again and lifted it into the air, pointing its sharp point straight at Dragoon. "Whatever – I'm ready." he mustered out with a small grin.

The king returned the mocking grin as he unsheathed a sword of his own. To Squall's horror, it was an exact replication of his blade, the Lionheart. However, instead of having the usual baby blue coloring to it, the blade was covered in a blood red pigment. Plus, the lion chain that dangled from the handle of Squall's gunblade was replaced by one, which Squall could of sworn looked like Omega Weapon – a fearsome, machine creature he had barely defeated in the past – on Dragoon's gunblade.

"Like it?" the monster asked. "I took a liking to your little knife there, so I built, out of magic, one of my own. I think I'll call it, the Liontamer." 

Squall spit out some blood out of his mouth as he intensely stared at the gunblade Dragoon was wielding. It had exactly the same exact shape as his, but the question left unanswered, was it as good? "Well, why don't we see who tames who, huh." Squall stated as he ran towards Dragoon.

  
The two blades instantly collided, and at that same moment, a huge whirlwind erupted from the force of the collision, completely enclosing both swordsmen. Both warriors pushed as hard as their bodies let them; determined to overpower the other, at all costs.

Both warriors took turns taking to the offense and defense, neither one having a clear-cut advantage. What seemed like an eternity of fighting to Squall was actually ten precious minutes spent before Squall took a step back, fatigue being his number one enemy at the moment. 

"What wrong?" Dragoon asked sarcastically. "Don't tell me the little, bitty SeeD warrior is already getting tired." Suddenly, Dragoon unleashed a powerful firaga spell that hit Squall Square into the chest. 

The lone wolf fell back a couple of feet before tasting the ground. Slowly, but steadily, he was able to regain his footing and cast a Curaga spell to heal his wounds. _'Shit, I only have two more Curaga spells left.'_ he reminded himself._ 'I better be on my guard.'_

Finally, Squall took a good look at Dragoon. He did not seem to even sweat one drop. _'Damn, even after ten whole minutes of not fighting………WAIT! TEN MINUTES!? Shit, I don't have that much time left.'_ With that thought, he took a look into the air at Bahamut, who seemed to be winning the fight. He quickly then shifted his gaze over to Zell and Irvine, who seemed to be tearing through the monsters around them. 

The moment he was done viewing his surroundings, Dragoon had come with a powerful swipe of his sword down onto Squall. If he had been another half second late, it would have been all over. Luckily, Squall was able to block the mighty force of the attack, but at a huge cost. When all the dust cleared from the impact, Dragoon came out unharmed, even looking better than before, wearing a huge grin on his face. However, Squall was kneeling onto the ground, with his right arm severely injured. To make matters even worse, his gunblade was shattered into an assortment of pieces on the floor in front of him. "This is not good." the commander realized very quickly. He knew – he was at Dragoon's mercy. With his right arm useless, he could not cast his magic spells as quickly and efficiently. 

"Curaga………" he muttered out as he extended his left hand over his right, but the spell only eased the pain, not the injury. 

Dragoon smirked as he walked up to Squall and kicked him in the face. Squall took the impact directly, but nevertheless, held his position as securely as possible. "Well, well, well, I suppose my sword did, after all, **tame** yours." Dragoon stated. 

The fallen warrior merely rolled his eyes and muttered out, "Whatever………"

"Its time YOU STARTED TAKING ME SERIOUSLY!" Dragoon roared so loud that it would have made cowards of the bravest of men, but not of Squall. He simply smirked and received another kick towards the face. This time, he fell to the ground. His face was burning with pain, but he was not going to let Dragoon have the satisfaction of seeing him beg for mercy. He merely stood up once again, but was only able to support himself on his knees. 

Squall took the risk to glance to his left, over to the Ragnorak. The only thing that was going through his mind was Rinoa. Her smile, her beauty, her voice – everything about her was soothing to the mind. If this situation had happened a year before, he wouldn't mind death. But now……now was a totally different story. If he wasn't going to stay alive for himself, he had to do it for Rinoa. But the bottom line was, he was too damn tired to even breathe, let alone defend himself.

Dragoon raised his blade high above Squall's head. He sneered as he looked upon the commander with eyes of pure hatred for the man. _'This is it……'_ Squall slowly thought. He tried everything in his power to stop it, but there was nothing he could do. Zell and Irvine were still occupied with the many monsters and Bahamut was still busy with Tiamat. _'I'm going to die…'_

"It's time you FINALLY die, you bitch!" Dragoon yelled as he swiftly brought down the blade upon Squall's head. 

The commander couldn't help but to flinch violently as the thought of the blade ripping through his skull entered his mind. But it never happened. He waited over a minute, but still felt life in his lungs. Taking a deep breath, he risked opening one of his eyes, and to his surprise, saw Dragoon shaking violently a few feet away from him. _'What in the world is happening to him?' _Squall wondered, and at the same time breathed out a sigh of relief, gracious that Hyne was giving him the gift of life – at least a little while longer.

Dropping his sword, Dragoon took a look at his hands. They were shaking so violently, that if he had touched the ground, there would most likely have been a slight earthquake, at the least. Then suddenly, his insides started feeling different, as if huge explosions were occurring inside his stomach. At first, he thought it was the accursed SeeD warrior, but even he didn't have knowledge of magic that advanced. 

Finally, it occurred to him. _'The Sorceress Powers are not adjusting to my body!' _he reasoned out. "WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?" he howled. At that same moment, Dragoon's body started to glow an eerie yellow as an abnormal ray of light shot out from his body and into the moon. 

It took awhile for Squall to figure out what was happening, but when the Moon started to crack apart under Dragoon, it all came clear. "Shit, he's going to destroy the Moon!" 

The commander looked furiously around for his comrades, and found them slaying the last of the monsters. "HEY GUYS! GET THE HELL BACK TO THE RAGNORAK! NOW!" he yelled out as loud as possible. 

Both friends understood, but didn't budge. Instead, they started running towards Squall. "We are NOT leaving you behind!" Zell answered quickly.

"I'm fine. I'll fly back on Bahamut." However, Squall noticed that his friends were not listening to a word he said. 

"If you guys are EVER going to trust me on something, then trust me on THIS. Get back, NOW. That is an ORDER!" he furiously reprimanded back at them. 

Irvine and Zell knew that it was not a good idea to cross over to Squall's bad side at that moment. As much as their conscience tried to persuade them to run towards Squall, they found themselves running the other way, towards the Ragnorak. 

Everything suddenly dawned upon Squall. As he took notice at his body, his right leg was stuck in the ground. "Shit, that must have happened when the freakin' Moon cracked open." He looked over to the airship, and was horrified to see that behind it, in space, the other airships were approaching the moon – and fast. Squall calculated he had no more than ten minutes to decide what he was going to do. Taking a look at Dragoon, he saw he was still shaking uncontrollably, and obviously had no control over his actions. "The sorceress powers must be doing this itself. 

His last hope lay upon Bahamut. As he stared hopelessly in the air, he saw the two dragons still fighting. However, Tiamat looked like as if he was going to collaspe any minute – a minute that Squall **could not **waste. 

-----*****-----

Bahamut however, caught his master's stare and realized all too quickly what he was going to do. If he didn't end this **now**, everything would be at a loss. "Tiamat – I had fun, but its time we end this pathetic quarrel once and for all." 

Tiamat sneered, as he breathed in and out heavily. "And just how exactly are you going to pull that off?"

The gray dragon merely grinned as he opened its huge mouth, gathering energy all around him into it. "Like this – MEGA FLARE!" At that instant, a huge plasma beam shot out from Bahamut's mouth and straight into Tiamat, who took his time accepting defeat.

-----*****-----

"I suppose it all comes down to this. I had hoped it would end differently." the commander slowly rationalized out to himself. "At least it's a good thing that I did do this back at the Ragnorak. The others would surely not have approved, especially Rinoa."

The lone wolf closed his eyes, as tears started to flow out of them slowly. The thought of never seeing Rinoa again was worse than anything he could imagine, even death. "I'm sorry it couldn't end like the way I wanted it to Rinny, but I must do this." 

He sighed as he glanced over to his right arm, and finally landed his stare upon the black ribbon Rinoa had given him. "She said she wanted it back. I guess, with the circumstances given now, she's not getting it back."

Everywhere around Squall, the Moon started to break apart. Huge portions of the massive structure started to flow into the dark abyss that surrounded it completely. 

In a fruitless attempt, Squall tried one last time to free his beached leg. He sighed in despair, as he gazed upon the ruby colored Ragnorak for the last time. As he saw Zell and Irvine finally reach the ship, he nodded to himself. Finally, Squall took out a small controller from out of his jacket pocket. He eyed its red button intensely before making up his mind.

"Just remember Rinny. Even though I may not have shown it a lot, I………I **love** you – I always have and always will. I will always be there, right beside you because………I **love** you. Just………remember……… that." And with that last sentence, his callused hand finally pushed on the small, red button, and with no energy left inside of him, the Commander of SeeD collapsed onto the shattering Moon.

-----*****-----

Selphie waited anxiously as she stared out the window of the airship. "What is taking them so long?" she wondered as she started to race about the ship frantically, in search of something that would calm her down.

Quistis smiled sadly as she too stared out the window. Thanks to the hill in front of them, they did not have a good view of the battlefield. She shifted her gaze over to Rinoa, who had silently cried herself to a much-needed sleep. The instructor sympathized with the beautiful angel as she wiped the fallen tears off of her friend's face. Even though she didn't feel it as strongly as Rinoa was at the moment, she knew all too well how it was to be isolated from the person you loved the most. But luckily for her, she had been able to find out it was only a brotherly love she held towards **him**.

However, she became increasingly suspicious of Rinoa's belly, wondering if what she thought, could indeed, be true. Quickly shaking her head, she dismissed it as a figment of her imagination.

Suddenly, a large bang on the outside door could be faintly heard from the control room. Almost too quickly, Selphie rushed over to the control panel, and thanks to the hidden cameras, saw it was Irvine. Zell seemed to be a bit behind him, so she figured Squall must have been taking up the rear. She rapidly pushed the button that opened the doors and waited impatiently for Irvine to reach her.

Rinoa awoke abruptly at the banging, despite the fact it wasn't that loud. Shaking the last drowsiness of sleep out of her eyes, she excitedly got up and ran behind Selphie, awaiting the return of only one person that would make her complete, not that she didn't want the others to return as well.

The cowboy was the first one who entered the control room breathlessly. He looked as if he had been running from a stampede of menacing Ruby Dragons at the moment. The spunky yellow-clothed girl wasted no time in showing her affection as she nearly jumped into Irvine, giving him a **tight** squeeze, literally removing whatever breath he was able to take in anyway. 

Soon after, Quistis and Rinoa both hugged Irvine briefly as he took a breather on one of the seats. Almost immediately, Zell came bustling in, and tripped over a loose wire that lay on the floor. Getting up slowly, his face was beat red from embarrassment, but that didn't stop the girls from showing their affection of their friend returning safely. 

As Zell took his seat next to Irvine, Rinoa waited impatiently for Squall to walk through those doors. Every second that passed was another second that felt like hell to Rinoa. Every moment that she worried about him only told her she loved the man all the more. 

Minutes gone by, and still no sign of Squall. Unshed tears started to form in Rinoa's eyes, thinking that he was just taking care of business. Quickly, she turned to the other two who had just came in. "Hey, uh, where's Squall?" she asked simply, but in a voice that held a lot of empathy and love. 

"Wait……you mean he's not here yet? I…….could of sworn……he was behind us." Zell breathed out, still very exhausted from the run.

"He told us that he would be right behind us." Irvine explained. "We were coming to help, but he **furiously** told us to run back here – in a voice that you did NOT want to cross."

At this, Rinoa's eyes started to water. She knew all too well that Squall sent them back because of danger. "He's is danger!" she yelled at them. "Why the hell did you NOT help?! You know him! He's a stubborn mule like that!!!!!" She quickly realized that she was yelling at her best friends, and instantly felt remorseful. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell, its just that………"

Irvine cut her off. "No, we were wrong Rinoa. You're right. He's an idiot like that. C'mon, before it's too late." He motioned over to Zell, who agreed immediately. 

As soon as they started to leave, the doors instantly closed shut. At first, all five of them stood stunned, not exactly sure what was happening. Zell and Irvine quickly went to the door that blocked that passage to the outside, and tried to break it down. But thanks to the matieral it was made of, it was a no go. 

  
"What the hell is happening?!" Zell yelled angrily into the air as he punched the wall.

Selphie's mind started to spin until she realized a small blinking light on the control panel. Curious, she walked up to it, seeing what was amiss. To her shock, it read the one thing she feared the most – **autopilot.**

She instantly turned around, with a sense of dread and fear running through her body. Quistis walked up to her and shook her body a little. "What's wrong Selph?"

"We………the………the airship is on autopilot!!!!" she blurted out all too quickly.

It took awhile for it to register into everybody's mind. Even longer for Rinoa. But when they did happen to connect two and two, it was already too late. The ship started to shake furiously, and before anyone knew, they were taking off.

"NOOOOO! WE STILL HAVEN'T SAVED SQUALL!" Rinoa screamed loud enough to pierce glass. The young raven-haired girl ran to the window and looked down. She banged on it as hard as possible before she burst into tears. "NOOOOOO! YOU STUPID FUCKING SHIP. STOP MOVING" 

Irvine walked up to her and shook her a couple of times. As she looked up, she also noticed tears running down his face. "Rinoa – listen to me." It was hard for the cowboy to utter these words, but Rinoa had the right for the truth. "Squall set the ship on autopilot – he knew he might not of come back. He wanted all of us………he wanted YOU to be safe."

Rinoa plummeted punches onto Irvine's chest as he held her closely in a hug. "NO……its not fair!" she whispered hoarsely as she finally gave up in her efforts and laid against Irvine helplessly.

All the meanwhile, Selphie and Quistis were doing everything in their power to stop the ship from moving. Aimlessly pushing buttons everywhere, all ended in vain as the ship prepared to leave the Moon's atmosphere. "STUPID Squall!!! WHY!?" Selphie cried out as she banged her fists on the control panel as hard as possible. 

  
Quistis looked helplessly onto the spunky girl as she too started to shed tears. "There could have been another way."

Zell rapidly punched on the door, in hope that maybe, just maybe he could dent it enough to break it down. However, the Ragnorak was designed so it could resist even the strongest of attacks, and clearly Zell's punches were only a slight feeling upon the airship.

Rinoa had finally freed herself from Irvine's grasp as she ran towards the window once again to look down upon the shattering structure. It weighed her down heavily as the thought of Squall burning alive down on the Moon crossed her mind. It only caused her to shed more emotional tears.

"Squall………please, there is still soooooo much I wanted to tell you – to do with you – to share with you. Why are you leaving me like this? Why!? You said you would **always** be my knight. You said you would **always** be with me. Then why are you not with me **now?** It's not fair. Why did you leave me?" she whispered loudly as her crystalline tears were flowing endlessly out from her brown eyes. Rinoa then gently rubbed her stomach. "Why did you leave me…………and **this**?" She then held back some tears as the last thought crossed her mind. "You never told me that **you love me**."

As Rinoa broke down once again, a faint voice entered her mind. As it spoke its words, her eyes shot open, recognizing the voice as the one – 

__

"Just remember Rinny. Even though I may not have shown it a lot, I………I **love** you – I always have and always will. I will always be there, right beside you because………I **love** you. Just………remember……… that."

– With her last breath, she once again looked upon the shattering surface of the bright Moon as the Ragnorak raced towards the blue Earth. She viewed the other five airships, which were supposedly filled with explosives, as it collided with the Moon, instantly blowing up on impact. The explosion was only comparable to the despair she was suffering within. During her last glance, she saw a small figure on the Moon, laying on its surface as a huge shadow rushed upon it, but too late for the explosion had already happened. 

By now, there was nothing she could do. Nothing in her power could bring her love, her knight, her protector, her **everything** back to life. She heard him say those words she waited so long to hear, but now she just wanted to see his face.

"SSSSSSSQQQQQQUUUUUAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL"

-----*****-----

Author's Notes coming up next chapter.


	13. Author's Notes

****

Author's Notes

Well, first of all, let me start of with my disclaimer one again. Final Fantasy 8 and all of its characters belong to Squaresoft. So don't think about suing me, as I do not own anything. (Although I do own a copy of FF8 – it's right there, next to my copy of FF7 on the shelf. Lol)

To start things of, I wish to thank all of my early reviewers – for your comments are what keep me going. I just really love to write, and let my imagination fly off. It really helps me to see what my strengths and weaknesses are, so I can always improve. I just hope I can keep on getting better and better so you people can enjoy yourselves when you're immersed into my story (hopefully ^_^). 

Ok, so I do hope that this ending did surprise all of you. It just struck me one night right before I was going to sleep. I thought it would lead perfectly into my next story – Eternal Struggle: Part II. I'm still working on a title for it, but the ideas are already flowing in, as well as the first couple of chapters.

I've been reading many other Rinoa/Squall stories, and I see that many people foresee the fact that their relationship gets rocky after Ultimecia and everything. However, I believe that they already faced **those** hardships during the game, and Squall has changed for the better – so I wanted to create a story that would both present an insight in the ever-deepening relationship between Rinoa and Squall. I know I did not get into that too much in part I, mostly because Rinoa was abducted and Squall and the others were saving the world, but I do intend to delve into that A LOT in part II.

Rinoa and Squall's child (which will be revealed what gender it is next installment) will probably play an important role – I'm not sure exactly HOW important, but pretty deep.

As for Rinoa being abducted. I did get people saying that I should have kept her "Sapphire" thing a secret till much later, but my story would not have worked out properly if I did, so I give you my apologies there.

  
Plus, I wanted to present you guys a story that had a problem. From every game I play, I always get the feeling that there is ALWAYS something out there to test your strength, wisdom and courage. And it feels as if you are going through an "Eternal Struggle" (hence the title). So I decided to present a situation that would test Squall, Rinoa and the rest of the gang once again, and hopefully I did a good job about that.

I hope I wrote interesting battle scenes with the characters as well as the GF's. I wasn't too sure if that went well, but from the reviews I'm getting, you guys say it works well – so I'm happy.

As for my ending, I do hope you're not disappointed. I heartily believe that if put in that circumstance, Squall would have done the same exact thing. But do not worry, because as already mentioned above, a part II is CURRENTLY in the workings, and I don't intend to stop till I finished it. Rest assured.

Just to give you guys a little info about Part II:

I intend to make it more of a Romance/Drama type of story. With the situation about Rinoa being pregnant, Squall dying (?), there can be infinite number of possibilities of what could happen. I am going to have Seifer make his debut into my story, but I'm not sure exactly how I'll portray him. But I do hope to make it a Quitis/Seifer pairing, so rest assured there as well. But nevertheless, the story will be **heavily** concentrated on the Rinoa/Squall relationship. 

I know I didn't put much Selphie/Irvine stuff in my story. I'll probably put more of that in the next installment. And for all you Zell fans out there, I still don't know what I'll do with our favorite martial artist (well, with the exception of Tifa Lockheart from FF7), but don't worry – he'll be taken care of in a way you'll probably be satisfied with.

Well, I could go on and on about things that would eventually make no sense to all of you, so I'll stop here. 

  
Please, I hope that you guys recommend this story to all your friends. I worked **so** hard and hope to get more reviews as time goes on. 

FYI – for some reason, the italic and bold words DID NOT upload to fanfiction.net, so I hoped that reading this fic wasn't too confusing, because when I used mircrosoft word, I italicized the character's thoughts, and bolded important words. I'll try to fix that next installment.

Anyway, thanks you guys SOOOO much for your time. 

****

Leave a review!!! ^_^

vindemon64


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